A Reason To Hate
by WhoIsThisDamnAuthor
Summary: "Shall we...give them a reason to hate us?" Aizen Sosuke, Uzumaki Naruto. Are they polar opposites, or more similar than we think? World : Naruto, with heavy influences and indications to the existence of the Bleach universe.
1. A Reason to Hate

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH.**

* * *

'_IT'S NOT POSSIBLE FOR A MERE HUMAN TO SURPASS ME!'_

'_As if…..as if this pathetic Kidou could seal me away!'_

'_The Hogyoku…..no longer recognizes you as its master….'_

'_That….That cannot be…..URAHARA KISUKE! I DESPISE YOU! You, who possess such intellect!'_

'_How are you able to LET yourself be ruled by a THING like that?'_

* * *

**'**_**Victors must always speak of the way the world should be, not the way it is'**_

**\- Aizen Sosuke**

* * *

He staggered. Stopping, and leaning on one leg, he gasped in shock when the sharp pain ripped through it, yet he moved on. Haste was the order of the day.

'_Must...leave…'_

A huge gash ran across the left side of parched and cracked lips. Blood had already dried around it, the flaky outer layers already peeling off. Two other cuts seemed to adorn his gaunt face, each running quite a distance across it.

Dusk was settling in, and the young boy could tell, by the way the sun was slowly submerging itself amidst the trees on the west side of Konoha. The wind was certainly picking up, and the young boy shivered, lacking any sufficient protection from the cold.

Making _him _feel comfortable was the least of the villagers' worries. All they cared about was to leave him alone between violent outbursts of anger, so that his unnatural _'cursed' healing ability _got him well enough for another.

The young boy limped along, weary and melancholy; two adjectives that didn't have anything to do with a boy his age. The village itself though, was in a state of inebriated joy. The tenth of October, a day that always signified both great joy and great sorrow, joy that the Nine Tailed Fox had been defeated, sorrow that it hadn't been killed, as, the villagers stated every opportunity they got, it should've been.

Uzumaki Naruto limped dazedly, not caring where he was hobbling off to, as long as it meant that he was putting a sizeable distance between him and his oppressors.

He needn't have worried, though.

Beating a little boy into submission, rendering him broken, both physically and mentally now held not the original amusement it had provided for the commoners of the Leaf. Satisfied with their noble work, the men had swaggered off, deserving of a few drinks after the service they'd done for their beloved village.

'_Have…to go….to…'_

He stopped short, unable to walk further. Drawing in a breath, he bent down, clutching his right leg. It seemed to throb with every step he took, and it only kept getting worse. He couldn't carry on much longer, telling himself it _didn't _hurt, when it felt like a thousand knives were working their way up his legs and into his weak thighs.

'_Torn right thigh muscle.'_

Uzumaki Naruto, at age ten, was no stranger to physical injuries administered by his dear fellow villagers. In fact, he was so well acquainted with the various cuts and bruises running across his pallor that they didn't even hurt now. The thing was, this time, it'd mattered, when his right leg had come under high duress.

He looked up and frowned.

'…_. 44…'_

Forty four….such an ominous number, a signal that things would always go wrong…..and it was fitting, to have that number designate this certain segment of the village.

'…_The Forest Of Death…..'_

He stared at the thick steel netting that separated him and the dense overgrowth. Unbending, unyielding, it was a special training, now rarely used, because he'd heard, once you get in, you needed extremely good navigational skills to get out.

Walking alongside the tall steel fence, he ran his hand across the bars. Continuing for quite some time, he suddenly stopped at a certain point. Poking the fence timidly, he got the desired reaction when it bent just a fraction more than it should have, a weak link giving way, just a little.

He smiled, despite the pain.

Bending down, he punched the fence, and mysteriously, it seemed to break only at that point. It flapped in and out harmlessly.

Pushing the flap, he crawled his way through. The flap was a really small one, made for him, Naruto thought, on these types of days, when the villagers were feeling a bit too exuberant, and were in the ideal mood to punish something in their joy.

Crawling in, he stood up, painfully. This time, when he stared at the fence, it was from the inside. He turned round, coming face to face with the huge, rather imposing forest, with a dark ominous green aura surrounding it.

At least, that was what anyone else would describe it as.

Uzumaki Naruto simply hobbled in.

'_Extremely good navigational skills, eh? What do you say to this, you useless villagers? Being the beaten down fucker of the village never felt better."_

Fucker.

A new word, only recently added to his growing vocabulary of such 'colorful' language.

In his opinion, the villagers seemed to call him that freely enough when he was around, oh, and a whole bunch of other interesting sounding words that he'd yet to try.

'_What a start to the big day, eh, Naruto?'_

Calmly making his way through the dense vegetation, Naruto sighed. To him, this…this atmosphere, this thick rich scent of soil did more wonders than a soothing balm on a searing wound. _This _was what he craved for, every time he'd been ostracized, this still, calm air, the silence, punctuated by the sound of the ever so sparse breeze that made its way unwittingly through the green cover.

He walked for a bit, turning here and there, following an extremely crude natural path. The darkness was starting to magnify, yet the blonde-haired little boy seemed to know where to go, and how to get there.

Finally, sighing heavily, he reached his destination. A lone spot, just as big as a small room, yet _so _comforting. It was unique, this place. Promptly dropping to the ground, he felt himself hit a sort of soft pillow, made out of leaves and moss on bark. Tilting his head obliquely, he could spy the moon, a full, bright moon in all its resplendence, as it traversed its ascent.

_'Finally... some peace...' _(isn't it supposed to be _'Finally, some action'? _But, I digress)

The peaceful moment was, however, disturbed, and rather harshly at that.

An uncharacteristic _squeak _made its way out of Uzumaki Naruto's larynx. Make no mistake, Naruto never really got the time to squeak all that often, and yet, there were times and occasions that demanded squeaks like these, rather loud and shock-inducing.

Occasions like these, when Naruto could clearly see the visage of a man, battered and broken, physically no better off than he was, yet eyes open, and looking at him with cloudy interest.

"…"

"HOLY FUCK!"

"….."

Uzumaki Naruto saw the man open his mouth. His lips too, caked with blood, moved.

"That….isn't a very…..nice thing to say…..young man."

* * *

The first thing Uzumaki Naruto registered was the man's voice. He didn't know how long this man had lain here, alone and unattended, nor did he know _how _he got here in the first place, nor why he was here.

All that didn't seem to matter. They simply receded to the back of Naruto's mind when he heard this man's voice. A slow smile formed on the blonde _Jinchuuriki's_ lips, though he himself couldn't fathom the reason for his amusement.

All he knew was that very, _very _few people used that tone when they addressed the blonde-haired _Jinchuuriki_, and the fact that he was being addressed such seemed to fill him with some sort of inane joy, some inexplicable gratitude to this man for simply talking to him.

"…They hate you too?"

Naruto didn't know what made him ask the question, yet, looking at this man, with his careless brown hair slipping over his, he thought, rather hollow face, which certainly had the makings of a certain gentlemanly charm, with weary, yet intrigued hazel-colored eyes, and body slumped against the wall in tired resignation, a strange tingle went up the ten-year-old's spine.

Belatedly, Naruto noted two things. A blood-stained _haori_ cloaked the man's injured frame, but more importantly, Naruto could spy an absolutely _beautiful-_looking sword in the man's right hand. He was holding it like a lover holds his beolved's hand, a gentle grip, almost caressing it...

Looking up, Naruto realized that the man seemed unable to reply, and reiterated.

"They hate you too?"

* * *

'_Overcast skies blot out the sun, and that always brings people's spirits down. So why not let the sun shine…just….a little longer.'_

He looked straight into the little boy's eyes, and a slow, yet placating smile tugged at the corners of his barren lips.

"….Yes…..young man….yes….they do hate me."

The boy's eyes widened in surprise, and he felt even more amused at the boy's surprise. Slowly lifting his hands, willing himself to do so, even against the numbing pain, he waved for the little boy to come closer.

"They do…hate…."

The boy seemed to scoot closer to him, though he knew not why. After all, he was a man, and merely a stranger to the boy.

But it didn't seem to matter, as the boy drew even closer.

For Uzumaki Naruto, time seemed to stop still when the stranger brought his raised hand forward. A strange sensation filled his stomach, as he felt the man's rough fingers make contact with the gash on his face, caressing the wound so foolishly inflicted on the unknowing little boy.

Sosuke Aizen smiled, whole-heartedly, for the first time in a long, long while, and for the first time, Uzumaki Naruto saw someone smile _that_ smile at him.

"They do…hate….and yet…"

Naruto brought his shoulders together, trying to draw in as much warmth as the sensation could provide. No, not the warmth one craves when the cold starts seeping through the skin. No, not that one at all.

The warmth of being acknowledged, the warmth that emanates from the sun in one's 'solar' plexus, when the realization that someone is actually in the same despicable, despondent predicament that you are in, hits home. It filled him with a boundless joy.

He was not alone.

"…and yet….shall we…give them a reason…..young man?"

Tired cerulean eyes met tired hazel brown.

"Shall we give them…a reason to hate us?"


	2. Three Years Later

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH.**

* * *

_He inhaled._

_Dust...and so much of it._

_Uzumaki Naruto blinked, opening his eyes slowly._

_He didn't know why, but a sharp sensation seemed to work its way through his head._

_'What...what is...'_

_He turned, and looked straight into the eyes of Kurosaki Ichigo._

* * *

_**Admiration is the emotion furthest from understanding**_

_**-**_**Aizen Sosuke**

* * *

A new dawn broke out over the Hidden Village of Konoha. Sarutobi Hiruzen awoke with the first rays of the sun, and rubbed his eyes with his palm. Slowly swinging his legs over, he got up painfully. His rheumatism had only gotten worse with time, but there was really nothing to be done. Age had finally caught up with the great man.

He moved slowly, as if the very agility that made him Hokage had now deserted him. He reached the sink, and turned on the tap. He washed his face, his hands feeling the wrinkled skin. He was no longer fit to remain a village leader, but lack of a suitable replacement had forced him to come out of retirement and take care of his village once more.

After his ablutions, he went over to the window overlooking the entire Country of Fire. The lush landscape stretched out in front. The village wall surrounded the buildings in a rough circle, and after that, the forest, like a green carpet, protected the village and maintained its 'hidden' status.

It was a special morning, this one, as the Third got his hat and placed it on his head. He looked into the mirror, and saw melancholy eyes staring back.

_It's Naruto's birthday today... his thirteenth._

The blonde _Jinchuuriki_ had always been full of surprises, pranks and general misbehaviour, but what had shocked Hiruzen on that fateful day, three years ago, was the stunning change that had come over his disciple's son.

All the cares of the world seemed to be burdening the young boy's azure eyes, like a veteran from the Third Great Shinobi War, who'd seen the unspeakable happen. The changes did not stop there. He'd become extremely polite, sometimes frustratingly amiable.

All the insults, humiliations, violence, swearing that used to deeply hurt the little boy now simply slid off him, like water off a waxy fig leaf. He simply nodded graciously, accepting even the most heinous and cruel insults the villagers threw at him. This only served to anger them more, and they soon turned to actual physical violence.

_He even bears the pain, ever so stoically... _On many occasions, Sarutobi himself had to go and rescue the boy from the hands of the wrathful villagers, and had found him close, to death, bleeding and battered. The healing power the _kyuubi _had so grudgingly granted him helped, but there were some wounds that could not be healed. However, one thing, _one _thing, Hiruzen found, that always unsettled him.

Every time, although he must be in great pain, as was evident from his injuries, Uzumaki Naruto never contorted his face into the obvious agony he was going through. Every time, the same smile would adorn his scarred visage, the same smile would play on his dried and bloody lips, the same smile...not one of contempt, not one of malice, not one of joy, not one of amusement.

Just...a smile.

And that smile... it was that very smile which _always _shook Hiruzen to the depths of his soul...it was almost as if the troubled young boy had suddenly found an outlet, an answer to all his problems, like some sort of guardian who would come to his aid.

The _Sandaime_ slowly ascended the granite steps of the inner corridor, making his way to his office on the top floor.

Some of the Uchiha had taken to escorting the _Jinchuuriki_ wherever he went, protecting him from physical harm from hecklers and the occasional drunk peacefully, but firmly. Naruto had mildly protested at first, but they insisted on being his bodyguards.

_Funny, how the always secluded Uchiha would take to the boy so well, _Hiruzen thought. The clan of the _Sharingan _claimed that the boy had got more than his fair share of beatings, and hence the Konoha Police force was giving him all-round-the-clock protection.

_Let them do as they please, _Hiruzen had accepted the Uchiha's claim at face value, ignoring Danzo's urgent warnings that this may be a plot to bring Naruto over to their side, and host a coup d'état sometime soon, with the power of the _kyuubi_ to assist them in their endavours to bring down the seat of authority in the village.

Hiruzen had denied all this, of course, for the sake of peace. _This is what the Police Force was formed for... _he'd told Danzo that day. _If they want to protect Naruto, who am I to stop them?_

Hiruzen had seen a lot more, but he had just things go on unaltered. _My role as the Hokage is to protect the Will of Fire, and to keep Konoha peaceful, _he thought, remembering the _Shodai's_ insistent teachings, _and I'm willing to take any decision, however unwise, to maintain the status quo._

He entered his office. It was sparsely furnished, and was exactly like the First and the Second had kept it in their days. He saw the clock on the wall, slowly ticking away. It was a priceless heirloom, reminiscent of more turbulent times; a time that Sarutobi hoped was far behind them.

_Where is he? I thought I had asked him to be here after dawn..._

There was a knock on the door, announcing the _Jinchuuriki's_ arrival. _Another thing that's changed, _thought the Hokage wistfully.

_He'd never knocked before..._

The door opened slowly, and Uzumaki Naruto stepped in. Hiruzen was deeply disturbed when he saw his face. _Why that face?_

For the ever-smiling face had gravity embedded deep inside, like a fatally injured warrior enjoying his last days having accepted the grim embrace of death. It was a face he had seen no thirteen-year-old make, even during the most desperate times in the Shinobi Wars.

The polite demeanour, the docile, almost submissive attitude pained the Third greatly. It was like Hiruzen had failed again, forsaking his vow to his disciple that fateful day, and let his cherished son turn into, well, _this._

_'Why do you never smile with actual mirth anymore, Naruto? Why do you pretend to be polite? WHY?' _he wanted to ask desperately. Yet, he said nothing out loud. Discretion was important here; Naruto was still a child.

"You called for me, _Sandaime-sama_?" Another one of his new-found habits, the extreme formality added to Sarutobi's grief.

"Yes, Naruto. You have become thirteen today. I congratulate you on your birthday, and I have some good news to share," he paused for emphasis. "Starting from today, you are eligible to take the _Genin_ Graduation test at the Academy,"

"Yes, I know. I've been preparing for the last week..."said Naruto, smile never wavering at the thought of an examination.

"I have asked Iruka-_sensei_ to conduct your test along with others your age," Hiruzen continued, "Since you've broken contact with them over the past three years, this will be a good opportunity to bond with the rest of your rookie group, your future teammates. Use this to create a good impression,"

"Yes, _Sandaime-sama_..."

"I suggest you leave for the Academy forthwith. The tests are starting in twenty minutes, so you have plenty of time."

"Yes. Excuse me..." Naruto bowed deeply, and exited the room without a sound.

A single tear fell from the old Hokage's eyes.

_Forgive me, Minato, Kushina, for I have failed again..._

Hiruzen was not in the mood, but he took out the heap of reports from his desk, with a heart that had plummeted during his brief encounter with the changed _Jinchuuriki_.

* * *

For Yamanaka Ino, the day began just like the previous one. She awoke, jumped out of her bed, and gave her training dummy a solid punch, right in the groin. The horribly battered dummy had Uchiha Sasuke's face mask on it.

_How dare you, Sasuke! _This had been her standard wake-up procedure for the last month, ever since _that _freaking scene at the restaurant.

_How could you cheat on me with that...that...stupid wide-forehead BITCH! Ugh... _Ino whacked the dummy's head off with a heavy roundhouse kick. She was too angry to even say that _whore's _name. She vowed revenge for the thirtieth time, and finally took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

For some reason, it wasn't working today. She was just getting more worked up. Probably because of what happened the previous night. She'd seen them near Ichiraku's, in a secluded spot she herself had found, totally making out.

_Sasuke, you...you BASTARD! _she thought, probably for the thousandth time, and she had just woken up. She got into the bathtub, and fumed silently in the hot water.

It would have been fine if her ex-boyfriend had simply broken up with her properly, before going out with the pink bitch, but no. He just had to leave her on their six-month anniversary date, which she'd meticulously prepared for the whole night.

To top that, the way he broke up was just as exasperating. Their date was going fine, when stupid pinky showed up, wide forehead and all... Her boyfriend just stared at her for a long time, and before Ino could ask him what was wrong, he just stood up, said "Goodbye", walked over to the pink bitch's table, bent down, and _fucking _kissed her! In the middle of their date!

_Rain, thunder and the melancholic sound of broken violin strings..._

If that was not enough, he'd dumped Ino in the restaurant with a further word, and had taken off with the pink boyfriend-stealer, crushing Ino's heart severely.

_I'll never forgive him for this... _Ino realized that in her anger, she'd accidentally released chakra into the water, bringing it to a boil. She got out hastily, dried herself, and selected the most seductive dress from her collection. Oh, it was a doozy, with strategic cuts perfectly revealing skin where it should be, yet concealing just enough for the imagination.

_I'll show you, you little shit! I'll show you what you'll never get again, even in a million years! _Ino planned on making Sasuke beg for her mercy, at her feet. At the _Genin_ Graduation, she planned to handing his manhood back on a silver platter.

"INO! Get ready quick! You're going to be late!" her father's voice rang out from the flower shop downstairs.

She quickly dressed, and headed for the Academy.

_Sasuke, you'd better fucking watch out for yourself._

* * *

Inside the Academy building, a fair number had already arrived. She saw Nara Shikamaru skulking near the wall, disinterested in everything but his own stupid problems. Ino was a good fifteen minutes early. Sasuke and the pinky weren't here yet. _Oh, I'll get you, so bad... _she thought.

Five minutes later, the celebrity couple arrived, hand in hand. Sasuke was wearing the blue sweater and cream shorts Ino herself had selected. _Of all the nerve..._

Clinging to Sasuke's hand, like a lizard, was the pink... _No. She's Sakura, _Ino forced herself to say her name mentally. She acknowledged her bitter enemy. _I'll get you too! I'll widen that forehead so much that even a scarf won't help cover it up!_

Ino noticed a sudden lull in the conversation. Everybody was staring at the door, mouths agape. She stopped raging over Sasuke, and looked at who was at the door.

Her world stopped dead.

Uzumaki Naruto had just entered the building.

_More rain and thunder..._

Uzumaki...Naruto...

It had been three years since she'd seen him last, since that October, when he'd suddenly disappeared on the tenth, with no reason given by the elders for his sudden departure. Searches had been strangely cancelled, by the Hokage himself, and the Third had said that Naruto was in safe hands. The entire class had just forgotten the blonde boy, and life had just gone on.

As no one had heard of him or seen him for three long years, nobody was prepared for this at all, especially the girls in the class.

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata was keeping to the corner, avoiding attention, too shy to talk to anybody. Her usual conversations had so many of her own stammering interruptions that the other person simply got bored and fucked off whenever she tried to talk to anyone.

_I hope Naruto-kun comes..._

Ever since he'd saved her from those miscreants on that day, she'd fallen for him. Somehow, her addled brain completely ignored the inappropriateness of crushing on someone at the tender age of eight. But well, clichés abounded in this little village. She admired him from a distance, never even having a normal conversation with him.

For then the spell would be broken and the magical two-horned unicorn would emerge, shitting rainbows and granting wishes…

* * *

_(Exiting pre-teen fantasy…)_

_(Return to normalcy complete.)_

* * *

The heiress to the Hyuuga clan was the only one who'd actually felt sad that Naruto had disappeared. She had cried silently in her room, desperately praying for him to be safe, while the rest of Konoha reveled at the riddance of the fox-boy, and every time she'd hear them talk, open their mouths and utter those words, each time their tongues rolled in their mouths to curse the boy, she would grit her teeth.

She would close her eyes, shutting herself out from the blatant violation of the fact that humans couldn't sink to such low levels of despondence.

So, naturally, her heart leapt for joy at the sight of her beloved, and it jumped just high enough for a slam dunk when she saw his new look.

_Some more rain, thunder and just a little light violin symphony..._

For the _Jinchuuriki_ was no longer the clumsy, dishevelled boy from all those years ago. He was dressed very handsomely indeed. He wore black jeans that fit perfectly, and a black undershirt. His orange jacket was left unzipped at the front to show a very fit, muscular torso. He was wearing a silver chain around his neck.

The only part of his visage that looked unkempt was his blonde hair. He now wore it much longer than before, with a spiky fringe partly hiding the teal eyes underneath. And the eyes...

_Oh, god! _

Hinata's heart, too, plunged upon seeing his eyes. Sure, they were that shade, _that _distinctive shade of cerulean that could only color Uzumaki Naruto's eyes, but that wasn't the point. What really hit her, made her heart drop was the fact that they looked...they looked...sullen.

Apart from that, he looked nice, with a clean, confident aura around him. He had changed drastically, from being the uncouth, rowdy boy she'd fallen in love with, all those years ago.

_He's mine... _a rare moment of conclusion for the hesitant Hyuuga heir.

_No matter what the cost._

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was in a dire predicament. He had no clue how to even appear in front of Ino, who he'd shamelessly dumped. _In my defence, _he thought, _she had been getting boring..._

Six months with the same girl was way, way beyond what the young Uchiha was willing to bear. The only reason he'd kept Sakura around for a month was her undying affection towards him, the adoration in her eyes stoking his ego. Also, it was because of his elder brother suddenly becoming cold and distant towards him, not that Sasuke would ever admit it.

After he'd taught Sasuke to awaken his _Sharingan_, Itachi had seemed too busy to hang out with his younger brother any more. Sasuke had been trying to fill up his time with girlfriends, as his lessons were too easy, but that too was _so god-damned_ boring after a few days.

It wasn't his fault that the lessons were boring, though. The instructors had decided, apparently, that knowing the tangential component of velocity of a kunai whizzing through the air at you was infinitely more important that knowing HOW TO DODGE THE THING.

Also, Sakura had gotten way too clingy of late. She submissively listened to everything Sasuke had to say, never contradicting him, totally unlike the headstrong Ino...

For a short instant, Sasuke wished he was with Ino. Then his practical side kicked in. _Well, there's no going back now, is there?_

He looked at Ino. She was staring broadswords at him.

_('cause daggers ain't m'Jagger...)_

_(Or is that Jaeger? Wait, that's SnK)_

* * *

_Nope, definitely not an option. _He sighed, but soon brightened up, as a third option suggested itself to him. His senior, the vivacious Tenten, seemed available, and Sasuke was desperately looking for an opportunity to hit on her.

Sadly for him, Sakura followed him wherever he went, looking at him with that sickly, cloying adoration in her eyes... He'd not got a chance yet, but he was sure he could ditch her using _genjutsu_, whenever the fuck _nii-san_ found the time to teach it to him.

He too, noticed the conversation in the Academy fade away to silence. He looked at the door.

Seeing _him_ there made him forget his p(r)etty girl problems for a while. Uzumaki Naruto had decided to return.

_Wow, he's grown..._

Sasuke's bored mind relished the thought of resuming their sparring, for, after all, he was an Uchiha, an elite, someone who would be far ahead of the rest in terms of pure combative ability, and the rest of them, the Inuzuka, the Aburame, the Yamanaka (gulp)...none of them were up to par, not in the very least.

Of course, there was always the Hyuuga, but the girl had never struck him as anything much, quite over-hyped, he thought, by the way the clan elders seemed to talk about their _Dojutsu_-wielding rivals. And all of that, all of that only left one result, one conclusion.

Uzumaki Naruto's skills were the only ones which weren't evaluated so far.

_Heavy rain and thunder accompanying a random death metal number from Opeth._

_Bring it on, faggot!_

* * *

_**Reviews:**_

**liliDreamer89 , Chayner , SPark681 , TheUchiha'sLegacy , MunkieMagic , CelestialxXxAngel , anh689**

**Thank you guys so much for the encouragement! I hope you continue reading! (And reviewing, heh)**

* * *

**Huh? HUH? Liked it?**

**After that creepy desperate plea for answers, I shall close this chapter.**

**P.S If you haven't figured it out, Itachi hasn't massacred the Uchiha yet...yet being the keyword.**

**Please review, and give further plot advice. Kinda important at this stage, y'know?**

**Also comment on who Sasuke should finally end up with.**

**Peace out.**


	3. Transition

**So, long time since an update, folks. I have nothing to say in my defence, except that I was away on vacation hunting Snazzleberries with a trans-sexual potato. And so, without further ado, you should read my chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN BARUTO OR NLEACH. Wait, sorry. I DO NOT OWN NARUCHO OR BLEAT. God, excuse me. I DO NOT OWN-**

_**The author was hit with excessive force on the head. He will not complete the disclaimer.**_

* * *

_He looked straight into Urahara Kisuke's eyes._

_Hatred rose in him like bile. He wanted to do something to him, he wanted to break that face, and cause it to scream in agony, in utter and absolute pain, because that was the only thing Urahara Kisuke's actions merited._

* * *

_**'Good evening, Espada. There has been an enemy attack. But first, let us brew some tea.'**_

**-Aizen Sosuke**

* * *

It was as if someone had turned the volume up a few notches.

Uchiha Sasuke could feel the distinct buzzing that welcomed Uzumaki Naruto's entrance. Black jeans, black undershirt, and a carelessly zipped up orange jacket that did less to hide his surprisingly well-developed torso, the blonde-haired boy had certainly caught the eye of just about every girl in class, if not the boys.

Some of the surprised pre-_Genins _had almost begun salivating at the sight of the blonde. _Control yourselves, niggas…_

He observed the surprise entrant. Uzumaki Naruto was turning away from him, looking at someone else, most probably. He could see the spiky-blonde hair extending now to the back of his neck, and the broad shoulders the neck was attached to. Sasuke decided to challenge the new kid, meeting Naruto's eyes when he turned back to face him.

The buzzing seemed to intensify. The new-extremely-good-looking boy was looking at the already-known-extremely-good-looking-boy. It was every fangirl's dream come true.

Sasuke, dropping Sakura's firm grip, walked forward, making sure his chest was as broad as it could possibly look. Smirking, he held out a hand, willing the blonde to shake it.

He saw Uzumaki Naruto's eyes follow his outstretched hand. A curious, almost indecisive uncertainty seemed to linger in the blonde-haired boy's eyes.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Uzumaki Naruto nodded. Without extending his hand in return, he spoke.

"Uhm…I'm really sorry…uh...but….are you gay? Nothing much really, but I'm pretty sure you were checking me out."

Sasuke could feel the color rise to his face. He spluttered.

It was as if someone had hit the mute button and swallowed the remote.

* * *

The odd giggle broke the almost crushing silence. Yamanaka Ino tried, albeit unsuccessfully to stifle her mirth. She could even _see_ Sasuke reddening at the Uzumaki's words. It was, after all, not every day that you saw the dick humiliated, him being the class hero and all. Therefore, on the odd moment, Ino tried to relish it as much as possible.

"Hey!"

Several heads turned at Haruno Sakura's outburst.

"Sasuke isn't _gay_! He's going out with me!"

Ino saw Naruto turn, an amicable smile playing across his face, eyes positively twinkling.

"And you are?"

"I'm Sakura. But how dar-"

"Charming. I'll talk to you later then."

This time, Ino heard several others laugh too. Again, it wasn't every day you saw Haruno Sakura being brushed aside, her being the smartest girl in class and all, what with the teachers literally fawning over her.

Ino had to admit, though, Sakura was certainly smart, but of all things, she had a wide forehead. In Yamanaka Ino's opinion, people with wide foreheads didn't-

Her train of thought came to a screeching halt, as if someone had jammed the brakes and cut off the fuel supply. Why, you ask?

"Can I sit here?"

Sweet symphony seemed to play in the background, for Yamanaka Ino. She looked up in slow-motion. There he was, Uzumaki Naruto, asking her if he could sit next to her.

"Ermm…excuse me, but can I sit here?"

The piano solo kicked in, now. The world _was _a wonderful place to live in, after all. There he was, Uzumaki Naruto, asking her to excuse him, the picture of gentlemanly charm.

The symphony suddenly stopped, as if someone had played Lamb of God during the quieter sections. Wait, _why _was he asking her to excuse him?

"O-Oh. Of course y-you can!"

His face broke into a wide smile, and her stomach seemed to flutter.

_(Experts agree that 'stomach fluttering' is a condition commonly found in acute cases of diarrhea. Romance novelists, on the other hand, think that it's a sign for the girl in question and the protagonist to get married and have eighteen kids.)_

She scooted to the side of her bench, giving the boy room to flop down carelessly. As she stole a look at the blonde, Ino couldn't help blurting out, "You've changed…."

He turned, looking at her. She could see a few bangs running up till his eyebrows, and yet, it didn't give him a rough, shaggy look. Instead, it looked just right, as if those bangs shouldn't be anywhere but where they were.

"Well yeah, it's been three years after all…."

She nodded dazedly, partially hearing what he said. She could see the blonde hair around the sides of his neck, framing his face quite nicely, in fact. A small silver chain hung around his neck. She hastily rearranged her expression, lest she should seem weird, and answered, "Yeah…"

Turning around suddenly, Naruto seemed to looking around him. They were at the first bench on the far right. Pausing, Ino heard Naruto greet someone cheerily.

"Hey! Alright there, Hinata?"

Mutinous whispering seemed to break out in the class again. First, Uzumaki Naruto had chosen to sit next to Ino, second, he seemed to know Hyuuga Hinata, the shyest girl evar, on first-name basis.

The whispering came to an immediate standstill when Umino Iruka walked in with the air of cradling an atomic bomb.

The _Genin_ tests!

* * *

Uchiha Itachi wore a genial, friendly expression as he walked back to the Uchiha compound. As he walked, various people stopped and greeted him with smiling faces. Nodding, and sometimes smiling back at people, it was clear that the brilliant young Uchiha was popular among just about everyone.

The morning was wearing thin, a bright sunny one, ideal for a perfect day off from the gloomy ANBU atmosphere. One of the youngest in his ANBU division, Uchiha Itachi was known for a fearfully trained sense of movement, direction, thinking and execution. On top of that, his _Sharingan_ was said to be one of the most well-developed ones in the Uchiha clan. It was no secret that the Uchiha was a born genius, and a certain candidate for Hokage.

Dressed casually in black for a change from his ANBU outfit, his thin, wiry, yet powerful frame did not go unnoticed. He was no stranger to ogling, gaping, and jealous looks as he passed by. Hair tied back in a loose pony-tail; his slow measured walk gave Uchiha Itachi some much-needed time to think.

He'd just escorted Uzumaki Naruto to school, on generally no one's orders. It was, after all, the _Jinchuuriki's_ first day at school, and even if the number of attacks on the boy had decreased, it was safe to not take any chances.

Uchiha Itachi smiled, as his thoughts went toward their relationship, him and the Uzumaki. It wasn't _affection_, not the brotherly type, certainly. At first, it was _intrigue_. There was no other word for it. For if there was one thing Uchiha Itachi _prided_ himself on, it was emotional prowess.

Simply the art of masking one's emotions, even manipulating them to an extent, usually proved to be impossible for many people. And yet, for Itachi it was almost second nature. Of course, this proved to be a treasured skill indeed when he joined the ranks of the ANBU, a world set in such harsh contrast to the ones the pedestrians knew.

Step into the ANBU, and suddenly, it would be as if the ANBU itself took you in, embrace you with affection and sit you in its lap, proceeding with informing you of its darkest secrets. That was it, the ANBU. A world where lies were as common as a stone on the road, and secrets as abundant as the air you breathed. And, of course, it helped that violence was considered as essential as breathing.

Itachi knew well the heavy, twisted air of the ANBU of the Leaf. And sometimes, just sometimes, he would admit to himself that it was certainly interesting.

Ah, but back to Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Itachi was surprised to see that the very emotional strength he prided himself on was exhibited with such dexterity by a boy around half his age. He knew it, of course.

He was, after all, the _Sharingan_ genius, though nothing on his friend, the even better-known Uchiha Shisui.

And they had talked, for quite a while. For a time, it was simply a stranger meeting a boy every day. Just passing by, he would talk the boy out of interest, aware, of course of the boy's status. And slowly, bit by bit, he, Itachi would start to look forward to the boy's meetings. It was just the snarky humor, sometimes, the startling disdain with which he would command his language that would intrigue him.

That disdain was, at first, humorous to hear from someone so young, but soon, without himself realizing it, Itachi felt himself acknowledge what the boy was talking about. The disdain made sense. The boy was, indeed a phenomenon, at least, Itachi felt, in terms of speech.

And then, he'd introduced the boy to Shisui once, having brought Shisui along with him during one of strolls. And again, just like, him, Shisui warmed up inexplicably to the boy. Sometimes, on his off days, the three of them would spend hours talking about _anything_, Itachi would explain how the ranking system in Konoha worked, how the_ 'Kage_ would protect the village at all costs. And sometimes, it would turn educational, with Shisui explaining Nin, Gen, Do, Ken, Sen and any other _jutsu_ available, only in theory of course.

And Itachi found the boy listening, with rapt attention, mouth hanging open and eyes wide, as Shisui would explain how _Byakugan_ users would cleverly exploit Chakra points to weaken their opponents. It would always bring a smile to his face, and a certain strange, inexplicable feeling in the pit of his stomach, the same he felt when he'd seen Sasuke for the first time, to watch the young Uzumaki listen with a near-worshipping look on his face.

It wasn't just combat theory. Sometimes, Shisui would announce, it was also important to learn about history. Naruto would groan, of course, somehow convinced that history was a pile of old rubbish with old people doing old stuff. But barely a minute later, Shisui would have him hanging on to every word, telling him about Uchiha Madara's power-lust, his thirst for blood, and explaining that, though skilled beyond imagination, Madara had died a humiliating death at the hands of the _Shodai_.

Sometimes, he would even have Naruto rolling around in tears of mirth, when he'd told him about how the _Nidaime_, Tobirama Senju-_sama_ had declared war on _Iwagakure_ after receiving a letter about how they'd kidnapped his wife, and readying all the battlements, only to realize that the letter had been a prank, and he didn't _have _a wife.

And, Itachi had to admit, the boy showed a commendable thirst for knowledge. He knew it wasn't to be underestimated, that certain quality. For as long as someone was willing to learn, they would always improve. And, where there was a thirst to learn, there was a thirst to grow. As Naruto listened more and more to the theory, the more he'd persuade them to show him what he'd learnt.

But here, both Itachi and Shisui would draw a line. This boy, after all, was the Konoha _Jinchuuriki_. The village council, had, under strict orders, placed him under watch, and teaching the boy combat techniques without approval would certainly be frowned on, if not met with strict disciplinary action.

And then, something wonderful had happened. One of their clan elders had happened upon their little meeting. At first, he could see the trepidation in Shisui's eyes; their clan had received orders to not maintain contact with the _Jinchuuriki_. As part of their police force, they should only have watched him. And now, they were discovered.

It had been a strange meeting. The heavily-built Uchiha Kirin stared at the young boy, and Uzumaki Naruto stared back, never breaking eye contact, never faltering even for a second. After a few seconds had passed, Naruto had got up suddenly, sensing the fact that he was sitting down in front of a Clan Head.

"My apologies, Uchiha-_dono_. I hope you will forgive me for my disrespect. I am Uzumaki Naruto."

Itachi stared, face impassive, but anxious at heart at Uchiha Kirin. And, for the first time he had ever seen in his life, Uchiha Kirin's eyes broke their usual lifeless look, and his lips split into a small grin.

"Pleased to meet you, Uzumaki-_san_. I see you are well acquainted with Itachi and Shisui. You must come to our compound for lunch sometime."

Not even waiting to hear a reply, Uchiha Kirin had hobbled off, still smiling, leaving a bemused and flummoxed Shisui and Itachi. No more was spoken about the subject. Naruto never came to the proposed meal, but, as Itachi knew well, it was an extension of the hand of the Uchiha towards the lone Uzumaki. Itachi and Shisui themselves had talked about it, but there was no other explanation for it.

The Uchiha had just decided to befriend the _Jinchuuriki_, just because.

And suddenly, it was no more 'watching' the boy. It became 'escort'. Perfectly capable of investigation, the Uchiha elders had come to realize the treatment being meted out to the boy. And protecting him from further physical and mental harm suddenly became their top priority.

Now filled with confidence, Uzumaki Naruto had suddenly realized that, although what he was receiving wasn't _love _of any sort, but _respect_, _acknowledgement_, and most of all, _importance_.

The two of them, Shisui and Itachi had decided to teach the boy the basics of combat. As expected, he was clumsy, he was ignorant, and he was slow. But, what made it a pleasure to teach him was that he was _willing _to learn. He was willing to accept that he was clumsy and slow, and ready to change it.

What made teaching the Uzumaki difficult was that they couldn't be seen doing it. Naturally, lessons proceeded at snail-pace. But then, the two of them had decided that training the body was enough. Naruto himself would learn if he possessed the thirst, about chakra manipulation, _Ninjutsu_ and the likes.

And so, bit by noticeable bit, Uzumaki Naruto improved. It was impossible not to, under their tutelage. Shisui proved to be an excellent 'slave-driver', in the words of the Uzumaki, and Itachi had earned the title of 'Captain Killjoy', by showing the difference between his and Naruto's physical abilities every now and then.

But Itachi could see it, for after three years of being with the Uzumaki, that he was happy. And, in some strange way, he'd been happy too. It was like a breath of fresh air, being cooped up in ANBU, doing missions that required extraordinary skill, lying, stealing, and manipulating…and after that, simply talking to Naruto.

And now, his protégé was about to take the Genin tests. Much as he and Shisui would've liked to see him at it, it was prohibited. He was also interested to see how Sasuke fared. It wasn't _neglect_, he would tell himself, what he was doing to Sasuke. He had, after all, taught him the very nuances of _Dojutsu_ usage, and Sasuke was, after all, an Uchiha.

Combat and the thirst to improve came like breathing to them. In fact, what he was most interested to see, was how Naruto would fare against Sasuke later on. After all, Sasuke was taught combat itself, while Naruto had concentrated on his physicality.

"Hey."

He looked up with a start. He'd been so engrossed in his thoughts that he'd never noticed Shisui had sneaked up behind him. Very remiss, of course, of Uchiha Itachi.

He looked up at Uchiha Shisui. If Itachi had been considered as a child prodigy, Shisui was probably a child legend or something. There was nothing to say about Uchiha Shisui's combat, mostly because only a few people had seen him in action. A monstrosity is what he is, Itachi would say, after seeing him execute his move. For it was as if Uchiha Shisui was born for the very act of engaging in combat.

And then, of course, Shisui would laugh, sober up, and say, 'Don't be stupid, Itachi, you know combat's my weak area…Now, _Genjutsu_, _that's _my forte.'

And this would be the point where you would sit down, take a few deep breaths and try to fathom the certain Uchiha skills.

* * *

'_Lies and secrets, lies and secrets…the world is far darker than you think, Shisui-san. Do you know, Shisui-san…? Do you…__**want**__…to know, Shisui-san? I can show you. I have no intention of deceiving anyone'._

His hair shook slightly with the wind, and his lean, lithe body was propped precariously against the bark of a tree. He'd asked Itachi to follow him, telling him not to talk in between. When they'd reached the preferred destination, he'd walked across to rest against the bark, and looked straight at Itachi.

"We need to talk. We need to talk…about Uzumaki-san."

"…Why?"

"There's something wrong. Something, just the minutest of pieces is missing, Itachi. Do you think you're seeing the full picture?"

* * *

'_Do you think you're seeing the full picture?'_

He observed Uchiha Shisui carefully. Lying down next to Shisui on the soft grass, his elegant fingers caressed a mop of brown hair. One small bang seemed to object to the general slicked-back hairstyle, lolling out in front aimlessly, subject to the notions of the wind. A flawless hand blocked the sun from Aizen Sosuke's face as he observed his fingernails.

A slow smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

'_Impressive.'_

* * *

**End.**

* * *

_**Reviews:**_

**lilidreamer89 : Thank you for the support! Hope you continue reading. And as for your question...err...wat? ('Will there be a flashback for marital with a in?')**

**Akuma no Sage : Thank you! Keep reading and reviewing, yeah?**

**the white bear : Oh, me too mate, me too.**

**RikudoNaruto1 : Whoa there, man! Okay then! Just a small note, interchanging 'brainwash' and 'fuck', did you know your sentence becomes 'I hope Naruto fucks the brainwash out of her' ..? Interesting, isn't it? You're giving me them plot bunnies.**

**SPark681 : Thank man! Keep reading!**

**Uchiha Senju Naruto : Thank you! Hopefully I'll keep you interested till the very end.**

**LeroyallenXNaruto : Glad you loved it :D**

**erching : You've got me curious too, about your name, that is. It sounds like a coin in the slot machine. Okay, okay, kidding. Hopefully you'll excuse my immature moments and read on.**

**Regin : Thank you!**

**VoidEnter : Thank you! That was what I was aiming for.**

**Breathless Voice : No. Sasuke should end up with Granny Chiyo. Or Gamabunta.**


	4. Test

**Well well well. What a turn of events. It's an UPDATE! :D**

**Okay. I must be fair. I sincerely apologize for the lack of activity on my side. In recompense, I will promise there will be no more slacking like this anymore. I'll try to update as much as I can. So, if you're itching to read more, or if you're new here, WELCOME! Without further ado, on with the chapter.**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH. IF I DID, HINATA AND ORIHIME WOULD'VE GOT SOME, SO TO SPEAK.**

* * *

_Ah...yes. The final stretch of this long, drawn-out battle. And yet, this was only a small event in the larger scheme of things._

_Uzumaki Naruto smiled, as he heard Kurosaki Ichigo unleash his final attack._

_'Mugetsu.'_

_And as the scream of the raw energy hit him, his heart erupted, his soul shrieked in agony._

_And yet, Uzumaki Naruto smiled._

* * *

**_"It is very difficult for me to step on an ant without crushing it..."_**

**_Aizen Sosuke_**

* * *

_THAT ASSHOLE!_

Uchiha Sasuke's embarrassment turned into anger. The rest of the world had been tuned out, and had been replaced by an image of Uzumaki Naruto being roasted over a charcoal fire. How dare he call the great prodigy-playboy, the winner and destroyer of hearts, the excellent dresser, GAY?

Sasuke stopped that train of thought before Naruto's currently absurd suggestion turned horribly real. As Umino Iruka walked in, the general decibel level in the class fell to zero. All eyes were on the pony-tailed _sensei_ as he smiled.

_The Joker's maniacal laughter ringing in the background, followed by "Why so serious, SON!"_

"Welcome to your Genin tests!" There it was; confirmation of their worst fears. The papers in Umino Iruka's hands were not nude sketches of Anko-_sensei_, as many in the group were desperately hoping for. This was the bomb that had been waiting to explode since they joined the Academy.

Unlike his retarded and more-than-slightly perverted classmates, Uchiha Sasuke was calmed by Umino Iruka's entrance. This was home turf. No one had even come close to the Uchiha _tensai _in any of the tests, be they oral, practical, or written.

No one except Sakura, of course. She had even beaten the genius by one mark in a kunai two-dimensional motion test, just because he had refused to give enough of a fuck to attempt the last question, "What are the exact dimensions of a kunai?" even though a kunai and a high precision measuring scale lay on his table.

However, even that was not something to worry about anymore. Since they'd started dating, Sakura had begun giving wrong answers on purpose, just to satisfy Sasuke's petty ego, to let him cling on to first place.

Sasuke had noticed this at once, as Sakura had answered "What metal is a _shuriken_ made of?" with _"Potato Salad"_. Be it as it may, he _did_ have an ego problem, and he _was_ okay with letting Sakura try to ingratiate herself to him. This would make sure that the impending break-up wouldn't be unnatural.

The Uchiha prodigy shook his head, and cleared off the last remnants of _that bloody idiot's _comment. Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand through his perfectly shampooed, groomed hair.

* * *

**We apologize for interrupting your fanfiction broadcast with this commercial.**

**L'oreal Konoha.**

**Because Sasuke is worth it.**

***Epic hair flip***

* * *

_I'll show him how an Uchiha returns an insult._

_Uzumaki Naruto, you better watch out._

_"..._and last, no actual experiments of _kunai_ throwing are allowed, you are supposed to calculate it by yourself," Umino Iruka's voice, followed by nervous laughter, finally reached Sasuke's cochlea, as his rage abated. He looked down at his desk, and saw the test paper.

"Your time starts NOW!"

The next hour and a half was silent except the rustling of leaves outside the Academy, (_the author apologizes for the cliché), _gentle whoops, indicating comprehension of a question and moans, suggesting otherwise, all accompanied by Umino Iruka's rhythmic snoring.

* * *

Inuzuka Kiba stared at the question nervously.

It stared back at him.

He tried using telekinesis to somehow get it off the paper.

A gust of wind pushed the paper off his desk.

Cursing, he bent to pick up his sheet. And that was when he realized it. The singular, wonderful thought that implied everything was going to be all right, and that the world was full of puppies, love and nude sketches of Anko-_sensei_.

Haruno Sakura was sitting next to him, hard at work; dutifully answering her questions like there was no tomorrow. This was it.

'_VICTORY!'_

And thus exclaiming in his mind, Kiba started copying. The desks were fairly close to each other, and she was answering Question Number 8, the same question as him. Her handwriting was neat, one that you could catch a mile away, and for Kiba, it was all too easy.

Chuckling, he copied.

'_A kunai is a tool derived from the trowel. It is a very basic construction, which, in the hands of ninja, can be used as a multi-functional weapon. There are two broad categorizations of kunai._

_The shō kunai : The shorter variation, used commonly for throwing or at the end of staffs._

_The dai kunai : The longer variation, used in direct combat.'_

Kiba grinned, finishing his answer. Sakura had already moved on to the next question. Her answer to this question had been perfect. He could already see Iruka-_sensei_ with stars in his eyes giving him full marks, and even a smiley-face for his perfect answer. Meanwhile, Sakura had noticed the Inuzuka's furtive attempts at copying her, and had turned the other way. Kiba didn't care, though. This answer was enough. He would sail to victory with this-

With a gulp, he stared at the question he'd answered just now.

'_The Shodai Hokage introduced the concept of three-man cells. State True or False.'_

Kiba tried to use telekinesis to wipe himself off the face of the earth.

* * *

Meanwhile, Uchiha Sasuke was having the torturous equivalent of a supernova explode in his head...no, scratch that. He was having the torturous equivalent of talking to Sakura.

_WHY THE FUCK ISN'T HE WRITING ANYTHING?_

He stared at the blonde _Jinchuuriki _with a frustration that seemed to be taking him over. He had expected at least _some_ competition from the newcomer, not _this._

For Naruto had just slept for the past hour and a half. Soundly so, in fact.

_First he calls me gay, which I suppose was a challenge. Then, he goes and does THIS. What is he trying to achieve?_

A very gentle snore emanated from his mouth, carrying over four benches back through the silence.

Sasuke could not bear it anymore. He had to know. He simply had to know what Naruto's true intentions were.

Another snore.

_FUCK...HIM..._

He was going to find out. Definitely.

His test paper just lay there, abandoned.

* * *

Ino looked carefully at her answers. The designated two hours were almost over. She'd done well, actually. She'd studied quite a bit for this test, and she even had a chance of beating ol' forehead girl, if she'd gotten most of the doubtful ones right. Surveying her sheet one last time, she drew the final line, wiped the dust off her sheet, and leaned back, satisfied with her effort.

Uzumaki Naruto immediately caught her attention. Apart from the fact that he was sitting next to her, what did it was that he was sleeping. _Sleeping_ in the _Genin_ Graduation Exam, for land's sake. Frowning, she looked around. Everyone was still writing. Making sure no one was looking; she straightened, and poked the blonde-haired boy on the side.

With a grunt, Naruto raised his head, popping one eye open.

Frowning at him, she mouthed, _'Done?'_

In what was one of the most in depth and detailed replies ever, he nodded, before going back to sleep.

Sighing, Yamanaka Ino started looking around at the others. Sakura was holding her answer-sheet up, and wordlessly reading off of it. Kiba was next to her, doing something weird. He seemed to flap his hands around the paper, and making miming motions at it, before giving up, and collapsing with a grunt.

Chouji, on the other side, had somehow sneaked in a packet of crisps, and munching away steadily, spilling crumbs all over his answer sheet. Shino was sitting straight, hands folded, looking straight ahead. Ino was sure the Aburame would perpetually remain that even if a nude Anko-_sensei _walked in singing Skrillex's latest electro-punk dance number.

To her back, Hinata seemed to have finished too, and was staring into space, with a slightly off-center expression on her face. On the far left, a girl was whispering desperately to Shikamaru Nara, who was fast asleep.

And then, there he sat, the genius Uchiha..._ Wait, what?_

Ino forcefully stifled a guffaw. For Sasuke looked like his last bowel movement had coincided with the First Shinobi War.

That wasn't all. He also seemed to be staring straight at... _Naruto!_

_'W-was there some truth to Naruto's statement, then? Was Sasuke gay?'_

* * *

"You used to go out with him?"

The Uzumaki's voice shook her out of her reverie. "I thought you were sleeping. Yeah. Why?"

"No, nothing. You were just staring at him. He's going out with…what was her name again….ah, Sakura, right?"

"Yeah." Ino's reply came out stiffer than she thought it would, leading to Naruto's face cracking into a grin. Ino stared at him irritably.

"You're annoying."

"And you're-"

But before Ino could hear exactly what she was, several things happened in quick succession. First, Iruka-_sensei _jumped with sudden gusto as a bell rang, groans seemed to echo through the classroom, Kiba seemed to let out a high-pitched scream, while Shikamaru continued snoring.

And before the frantic students could complete their last answers, Iruka-_sensei _had already used a _jutsu_ to collect all the papers. She drew her hands back as her answer-sheet whizzed toward the _Chuunin_. A collective sigh went around the class.

Uchiha Sasuke was _fuming. _He finally realized what had transpired, as his blank answer-sheet flew towards Iruka. His lips curled into a fierce snarl.

_Definitely not a magazine-cover look, but I have to consider the circumstances._

_I see what you did there... U...zu...ma...ki..._

_NARUTO!_

"Now…" Iruka's voice cut through his mental rant.

"Who wants to discuss the answers, _hm_?"

* * *

The class seemed to resonate with the sound of more than thirty students trying to force themselves through a single door to escape heartless torture. Ino smiled at their teacher as she walked out calmly with Naruto. The cool breeze blowing in the Academy courtyard seemed very welcoming after all that test-tension.

Suddenly, she started.

Uchiha Itachi was there. Waiting for someone. He looked as foreboding as ever. Perhaps he'd heard about Ino's heartfelt desire to acquaint her knee with Sasuke's crotch repeatedly? Worse still, was he here to neutralize her before she did it? Oh no, oh no, oh no...

Worriedly, she latched on to what she thought was her ex-boyfriend's arm.

"Hey, hey! Isn't it a little early for that?" Hearing the _Jinchuuriki's _surprised, and slightly smug voice, Ino drew away hastily, blood rushing to her face.

"I-It's not like that, okay? I just happened to trip, that's all..." (Keep the clichés coming, baby!)

Naruto smiled, implying Ino's previous statement was just as made up as a trans-sexual potato. (_Which, the author might add, isn't made up at all. For facts, look up '10 things that constitute your wet dream')_

"Fine, if that helps you sleep at night..."

"NARUTO!"

The couple turned around to face a steaming Uchiha Sasuke. He looked ready to deliver a psychotic rant. (_Not to be mistaken for 50 Cent rapping.)_

Then, a completely anticlimactic silence followed, as he gasped for air.

_"HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!"_

Ino yawned as another humongous breath followed. This was getting tedious.

_"I was watching you all the time. You wrote nothing. Freaking NOTHING! I kept thinking 'Why? Why would he do this?' Then, at the end of the paper, it freaking hit me. You did that on purpose! You made me IGNORE MY FUCKING PAPER! Now I didn't write a single fucking answer! I'm going to have to waste two more fucking writing the second test tomorrow! There! Two hours of my life, wasted! At least, if the test wasn't so fucking retarded, I would have written it, but this? THE GENIN TEST? Damn you!"_

Another breath. With a start, Uchiha Sasuke noticed the _Jinchuuriki's_ bored expression, and realized, that his rant/rap had just been inside his own head, at the mental image of Naruto being roasted. (_See above_)

He took another deep breath, and finally managed to get out a single sentence through clenched teeth.

"_ARE...YOU...HAPPY?"_

"That you checked me out for two hours straight, during a _test_?" Naruto's smile was wider now. "Certainly, my friend. You can tell me all about it. The earlier you come out of the closet, the better. Let's go, Ino."

And with that last broadside, the two of them turned, leaving the wrecked remains of Uchiha Sasuke on the courtyard floor, gasping for air, face contorted in anger an confusion, as he tried to figure out how the blonde had destroyed him on _so many levels._

* * *

A killer and a warrior.

Wherein lay the difference, really, if any?

A tough question, but he knew the answer.

A killer felt shame for his actions. He felt remorse, he felt regret, he felt hurt. He would cry, shed tears for his enemy; he would curse himself to damnation. Of course, the best killers would save these moments of emotion for later, for after their enemies have been eliminated, the deed done.

A warrior, on the other hand, did the same thing a killer did. However, a warrior exulted in his enemy's defeat. He would rejoice at his enemy's loss, and celebrate, along with the others. He would be heaped honors, laurels. He would be applauded for his extraordinary courage and skill.

And all the while, the killer would weep, both for himself and the enemy.

And then, he would get up, steady himself, stop gasping. He would ready his weapon, he would stand, he would walk, determination galvanizing his demeanor. The next target, after all, had to be eliminated.

Meanwhile, the warrior would sleep, oblivious to anything, intoxicated with alcohol, a vain smile adorning his features, the ghost of a triumphant laugh etched on his foolish face.

And in one instant, the killer's blade would pass clean through the warrior's throat.

* * *

**So, folks, might not be the most happening and pulse-pounding chapter, but the next ones'll be up soon, and will feature some shit that's goin' down in the 'hood.**

**Also, Sasuke is very much OOC since the Uchiha massacre has never happened. Please do not flame me complaining about badly written characters, or for that matter, 'u shit u suck lolzz xzz Saske is OOC lolzz'. Reviews of this nature will promptly be ignored.**

**Oh, and as a side note : Did anyone notice the AC IV Black Flag reference?**

**On with the reviews :**

**LeroyallenXnaruto : I hope your confusion will clear. If it's any help, I meant for that part to be ambiguous.**

**Karlos1234ify : Yay review**

**HolyKnight5 : Very nice! Aizen's situation was well portrayed in your review. Keep reading, maybe? Aizen's role will become clearer.**

**xKala-chanx : Thank you! I hope you'll keep reading!**

**erching : Hopefully, I won't stop.**

**The Eternal Forgotten : Thank you! Means a lot, mate!**

**liliDreamer89 : YES. The ambiguity around Aizen needs to clear up.**

**darorado : Okay! Erm... I will! Thanks, anyway! Keep reading. Also, I have changed the rant into something else...**


	5. Where To

**Whoa, LADY! Lookie what we have-a here, eh? It's an UPDATE!**

**Let's start bangin'!**

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH. WHAT I DO OWN IS YOUR MOM.**

* * *

_He felt it._

_The massive rush of power. It activated every nerve in his body._

_Uzumaki Naruto shivered with barely-contained power._

_It felt...it felt elating._

_The Hogyoku's scream was only masked by his own scream of joy._

* * *

**_"Fear is necessary to achieve evolution"_**

**\- Aizen Sosuke**

* * *

Uchiha Itachi walked out of the Hokage building. He'd just received news about his latest mission. One that...well, was something he'd never done before. The Hokage had deemed it necessary due to certain circumstances that...Uchiha Itachi was to become a _Jonin_-_sensei _now.

However, that wasn't the reason for him walking toward the Academy now. Itachi made his way through the door, and stopped outside to survey the scene. The test seemed to have finished, and the students were making their way out. His sharp eyes immediately caught the silver glint that Naruto's chain had among the crowd, and walked forward.

His brother, Sasuke seemed to have something to say to Naruto, much to his surprise. Had they become friends already then? Funny, he'd never thought Sasuke would be the type to befriend the lonely _Jinchuuriki_. However, he didn't have time. Just as Naruto and another girl next to him walked past Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi's presence made itself known.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Every single head in the courtyard turned in awe at the sound of his voice. Gasps and giggles broke the silence.

"Yeah? What is it? Why are you here, Itachi?"

The silence magnified. The surprise entrant, Uzumaki Naruto knew Uchiha Itachi, _the _Uchiha Itachi on first name basis?

"We need to talk. It's about Shisui."

The students were now ogling openly at the two of them. Were they talking about _the _Uchiha Shisui? The one with the insane levels of _Genjutsu_ prowess? So Naruto knew him, too?

"Okay. Let's go then. See you later, Ino-_chan_."

Leaving behind a stunned Ino, a furious Sasuke and a shocked group of students, Uchiha Itachi and Uzumaki Naruto walked out calmly.

* * *

He smiled as the wind blew around his face, ruffling the glass he was sleeping on. His hands were resting carelessly by his sides, as the ends of his _haori_ fluttered aimlessly. Konohagakure was a pleasant place indeed. No one took notice of the tall man lying down with nary a care in the world.

Or more precisely, no one _could_.

Three years had passed...three eventful years, and yet, the time to come would be far more exciting than ever before.

* * *

**_Flashback:_**

_"Hey, look who it is."_

_One of the boys sniggered, pointing at a small boy at the corner, playing on his own._

_"Oh...look who it, indeed. It's little Sosuke."_

_The three tall boys, each fifteen years of age walked up to the smaller, unsuspecting boy, kneeling down, hard at work at something. The boys looked over, seeing that the small boy had made a sandcastle, and a good one at that._

_One of the boys put his finger to his lips, telling the others to keep quiet. Walking up ahead of the small boy nonchalantly, he turned, and with sudden ferocity, kicked the boy's work, the sandcastle hard. Made, after all, only out of sand, the structure collapsed, sending a spray of earth into the small boy's eyes._

_As the boy named Sosuke cried out in shock and pain, the bigger boys dissolved into howls and shouts of laughter. The one who had kicked the sandcastle was on the ground, rolling around at Sosuke's reaction, uncaring for the ten-year-old boy's pain of having a clod of earth thrown into his eyes._

_Did the boy stand up and scream, then? No._

_Did he call for his parents? How could he do that, he was an orphan after all._

_After rubbing his eyes, Sosuke stood up, pushing the sand off his brown hair. The boys stopped laughing and stared at him. He looked at them for a second. He turned. Walking he few steps, he sat down, and started piling up sand, in effort to build a second one._

_He turned when he heard the big boy's surprisingly quiet voice._

_"Think, you're too clever, Sosuke? Think you're smart, building a sand-castle when we kicked your first one down, huh?"_

_The little boy looked at them blankly._

_"What're you looking at us for, you little shit? Open your mouth. ANSWER US!"_

_Sosuke turned again, and started shaping the sand._

_With a cry, the biggest of the boys leapt forward, angry that Sosuke hadn't answered them like he should have._

_But this time, Sosuke was ready._

_He turned, he only had a second to react, and he did so. Curling his little fist into a ball, with terrifying accuracy, he met the boy's groin. With a shriek of pain, the boy who had attacked Sosuke shrank to the ground. Unable to speak, he retched. The other boys, watching initially with smiles on their faces, became quiet._

_They didn't say a word. Ignoring their fallen leader, one of the boys moved forward. Sosuke, his courage now gone, shrank back, trying to get away, fear evident in the poor boy's eyes. One of the boys caught Sosuke before he could get away. The other caught his hands. The third one looked straight into Sosuke's eyes._

_"You're finished, kid."_

* * *

_The boy named Sosuke screamed. It was loud, and anyone could've heard it even at a distance. And they did. They all did. The people knew that Aizen Sosuke was screaming. And yet, they remained unmoved._

_Sosuke lay on the ground, now no longer screaming. Tears streaked his face. His hair was messy, his arms and legs bruised. He suspected his left wrist had broken._

_Pain ruled his body. The little boy couldn't identify which part hurt more. He crawled forward._

_And all the while, Aizen Sosuke never said a word. He crawled forward, gritting his teeth, ignoring the stabbing sensation. Within a minute, Sosuke passed out, exhausted, hurting and hungry._

* * *

_He opened his eyes slowly. The first thing that came to his mind was that his wrist felt stiff. He looked down. His vision finally focused to reveal that his wrist had been bandaged. He looked up._

_Two children were looking at him eagerly. A boy and a girl, both his age by the looks of it. The girl spoke first. She was dressed in nice-looking white robes, and her hair curled just under her neck. Her startlingly yellow eyes seemed to sparkle with delight._

_"Ooh. You're awake at last!"_

_Sosuke moved back in fear and shrank into a ball, afraid that the girl might lash out at him._

_"Be quiet, Icchi-chan!" the boy reprimanded her, "you're scaring him."_

_The girl, now kneeling down in front of him moved towards Sosuke._

_"Don't be scared! We won't hurt you!"_

_The boy behind her nodded at him firmly. He had sandy-blonde hair, and eyes that seemed to smile all by themselves. A shock of hair seemed to intrude between his eyebrows, giving him a cute-babyish look._

_"What's your name?"_

_"S-S-Sosuke."_

_The girl seemed to giggle. Her purple hair shook as she did so._

_"That's funny! Are you two related?" she asked of her friend._

_"Don't be dumb, Icchi-chan."_

_"I'm not dumb. Don't be mean!"_

_Sosuke looked at the two of them. When they saw him staring, they stopped bickering._

_"Ooh," the girl exclaimed, "this boy here's Kisuke! He's my friend. See, Sosuke, Kisuke, I thought you might be related. And," she stopped to take a breath, "I'm Yoruichi." she completed, with an air of importance, pointing at herself._

_An awkward silence seemed to follow. Finally Sosuke broke it._

_"Thanks," he said with a smile. For the first time, Sosuke Aizen smiled. And it felt good._

* * *

_Whoa._

Yamanaka Ino watched Uzumaki Naruto leave with _the Uchiha Itachi. _She'd never seen anyone so close to Itachi, except _Sasuke._

She caught the glint of his silver chain bobbing up and down, as he jogged to keep up with the super-fast Uchiha prodigy.

_What is going on? _She wondered. _Is Naruto so important that even Itachi asks him about certain matters? Or, maybe Naruto just overheard something, and Itachi was ensuring that the Jinchuuriki keep his mouth shut?_

Whatever it was, Ino knew one thing for certain. Her new blonde boyfriend-to-be definitely had a deeper and more profound personality than what he chose to display to the world.

_Well, I like that he's secretive. Better by far than that goofy show-off, Sasuke..._

Speaking of Sasuke, he was having the WORST day of his life. First, his _nii-san _declines to come to the Academy to drop him off. Next, that _asshole _Uzumaki Naruto comes and challenges his manhood. Later, he gets his manhood sawn off by Naruto, as he realizes the Jinchuuriki's true motive.

Next, to further drive salt up the wound's ass, his _nii-san _arrives at the Academy, only to leave with... _fucking UZUMAKI NARUTO!_

Sasuke sat in silent contemplation, and plotted revenge against _him, _now declared his _worst enemy. Worst fucking enemy._

* * *

The setting sun had just touched the top of Konhgakure's outer walls. Hiruzen Sarutobi gazed intently at it, admiring the wealth of scarlet, vermilion and crimson spreading in the sky. It seemed like a painter's paradise, as the warm red tones slowly faded into a neutral purple, and then, as the last arc of the sun dipped below the horizon, the colors finally descending into a cool, serene blue.

The _Sandaime _sighed, not realizing that he'd been holding his breath for over a minute. A shiver ran down his spine as he imagined the future. _So many possibilities, so many lives, so many endings..._

He'd lived long enough to notice when change came over the horizon. It glid majestically in the blue twilight, leaving behind the past. Landing, it spontaneously rose into flames, burning down the present and creating momentary chaos. After all traces of the present were wiped out, and unrecognizable, it rose from its own ashes, to become the future.

Hiruzen Sarutobi saw countless phoenixes soar towards his beloved village, and he knew, one of them was going to land, right here, bringing the flames of chaos, and the rebirth of Konohagakure was imminent.

_Which one will it be, I wonder?_

* * *

He gazed at the setting sun. He always loved it. After all those years, after all that battle, after all that bloodshed, after mindless fighting, he stood there, not knowing whether what he'd done was right or wrong.

He hadn't changed much physically, through all those years. The same sandy-blonde hair flopped down carelessly. Now, of course, he'd gone in for a slightly bold green-and-white striped hat to go with his kimono. The hat always seemed to create a sort of shadow on his cheeks, giving him a dark, rather sinister look. His beard was perpetually in a state of semi-existence, something that Yoruichi seemed to adore.

The sun had finally sunk. Three years had passed since Sosuke had been sealed away for good, imprisoned to serve out twenty-thousand years. The general purpose, of course, was suffering. The _Shinigami_ wanted Aizen Sosuke to suffer, to repent every last action, to wallow in regret and self-pity, and hopefully drive himself mad in that time-span.

Or was that what was really happening?

_'I hate you! I DESPISE YOU-'_

"Kisuke! Time to go!"

Her voice shook him out of his reverie. That moment of doubt, as to whether Aizen Sosuke, once that harmless little boy who would be beaten for no reason at all, had escaped punishment in what would undoubtedly be his most spectacular illusion yet, that moment of doubt vanished.

"-And since we won't be doing this for quite some time to come-"

Shihoin Yoruichi gave him a small kiss before turning.

"Time to go, eh?"

And as the two of them stepped forward, Urahara Kisuke's doubt gave way. It gave way to belief. Aizen Sosuke had indeed escaped punishment. This was the absolute truth. And only two people knew about this, himself, and the girl who completed the trio that had been formed when the three of them had met as kids, Shihoin Yoruichi.

Aizen Sosuke had escaped.

And Urahara knew where to.

* * *

The evening lights had come on. The usual chatter had started had started, with a gaggle of girls materializing out of thin air in front of every shop, much to their dates' dismay.

He smiled.

He stroked the cat's back, stopping to tickle it behind its ear.

He turned the page.

Purring, the cat rested its head on his lap and closed its eyes.

He turned yet another page, giggling quite unnaturally.

Strange, strange things were about to happen. One year had passed since he'd received the cryptic message, leaving him wondering as to whether he'd drunk too much _sake_ on Kurenai's birthday. But then, it had turned out, strange things did happen after all. After all, there had been that one time when Ibiki had sung 'Bringing Sexy Back' after Anko had slipped him a few-

Well, this wasn't the time for that.

Strange things were indeed about to happen.

"Ah, here at last."

"So _this _is Konohagakure? Screw me, we should've been here way long ago. This is _awesome!_"

Hatake Kakashi stared at the blonde-haired man and a rather strikingly dark, good-looking woman next to him. No one took notice of the two people staring at the famous Copy-Ninja Kakashi.

Or more precisely, no one _could_.

Kisuke smiled at Kakashi.

"_Gomen ne_. But here we are."

* * *

**Yes, yes! Finally!**

**Something happened!**

**If this is the reaction you people have in mind, or any other reaction except "Lollzzzz Sasuke OOC" (See previous chapter), please do write a review.**

**Seriously, your thoughts are important to me, as an author, to decide how the story should continue.**

**Thanks to all of those who have reviewed my story, I hope you liked it and will continue reading.**

**Some really kick-ass shit's going to happen really soon, and this chapter's only the beginning.**

* * *

**Reviews:**

**Karlos1234ify : You liked it, then? Sadly there won't be much more Sasuke-bashing.**

**xider : Next chapter! But how was it, though? Did you like the story so far?**

**LeroyallenXnaruto : I'm glad you do. No, seriously, I had to contemplate for quite a while as to whether Naruto should be as ass-kicking as he is in the story.**

**KO : Wait and see, maybe? What I aim to do is provide something different. As we all know, in every single dark Naruto fic, Naruto is either completely angst-ridden, killing off people like there ain't no tomorrow, or he's overly cool-badass powerful. Wait and see how it goes before ditching this story, maybe? Because, yes, Dark Naruto is the essence of the epicenter, but I don't think it'll turn out how you expect it to.**

**montana15 : *Laughs* But I haven't even played all my cards yet! Wait for more, yeah?**

**SPark681 : Thank you! Keep reading!**


	6. Selection

**Whale whale whale.**

**DISCLAIMER : THE AUTHOR IS A DICKBAG. HE DOESN'T OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH.**

* * *

_Uzumaki Naruto stood in front of them calmly._

_The wind seemed to pass by, lifting the dust that had settled over the debris at the remains of the town. Silence seemed to weigh down on them, as they all watched._

_A small smile made its way onto his face, as he looked at the last remaining people who had the capability to oppose him._

_Kurosaki Isshin stood, and next to him were…ah…little Icchi-chan and Kisuke…_

_How very quaint these reunions were…_

* * *

**_"Laws exist for only those who cannot live without clinging to them"_**

**\- Aizen Sosuke**

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata stepped silently through the underbrush. Suddenly, she flinched as her foot cracked a dried twig.

_They surely heard that..._

The dark haired heiress waited silently, awaiting discovery. No one found her.

Apparently, Naruto-kun and Itachi-san were preoccupied. Hinata took another step forward, this time activating her _Byakugan,_ and carefully selecting the perfect, most silent path.

_(Mission Impossible theme starts playing in the background as Hinata whips out her laser-beam photographic devi-_

_Oh wait._

_Wrong fanfic.)_

Since the start of the Genin tests, Hinata had fretted and fumbled a little more than her usual self. As soon as the blonde had entered, her heart had skipped an entire bar. (S_heet music joke, for the musically ignorant section in the audience_) With a tinge of red on her face, she noticed that the seat right next to her was empty. Oh, _how_ she'd wished Naruto had sat right next to her.

"Hey! Mind if I sit here?"

This was it. Her chance to say yes, and then re-enact all those hot lemon fanfiction incidents that seemed to happen over the internetz. (_What the heck is a lemon fanfiction anyway, and what's an internet_, Hinata often wondered.)

"Y-yes, N-N-Naruto-k-k-kun...,,,;;;``" she had managed to blurt out, stuttering even her punctuation, before noticing he wasn't even there.

She looked forward, surprised. And got the shock of her life.

Naruto was sitting next to _Ino._ It was Ino whom he'd asked, not her. A pang of jealousy had swept through her then, but she'd managed to push it back and pass the paper, somehow. And then, Naruto had exited the classroom with Ino as well. That was a little disheartening, but Hinata had stayed firm.

And then, as he'd followed the Uchiha genius outside, a firm resolve made its presence known. In a split-second, her decision was made. She'd follow him, wherever he was going. She'd tell him how she felt. She'd-

She descended from her fantasies to notice that the love of her life was already gone.

She hurried to follow, embarrassed by her own distraction. She had to see where he was going. It was very uncharacteristic for the Uchiha genius to socialize with anyone except the Uchiha and the Third Hokage. She closed her eyes momentarily. For a second, the vision of the Byakugan dissolved into blackness. She opened them again, only to let out an audible gasp. It didn't matter really, the fact that the gasp was audible.

They were gone.

* * *

_His sandy-blonde hair seemed to twitch momentarily against the pleasant breeze. The cat's bright-yellow eyes glinted in the afternoon sun._

His gray hair seemed to twitch momentarily against the annoying breeze. Hatake Kakashi drew a hand from his pocket to scratch the cat on his shoulder. He walked by, nonchalantly observing things from his peripheral vision, even as he tried not to giggle at the lewd illustration accompanying the smut.

"Ooh, look who's walkin' in! Where've ya' been, ya' shit?"

Kakashi looked over at Anko.

"Oh, lounging about…as usual."

"My, quite the exciting life you lead. Anyway, they're already there, ya' better get your ass in quick, the old coot ain't in the greatest of moods."

"See you."

Kakashi walked along, folding his book and slipping it safely into his pocket.

'_Interesting,' _a voice seemed to say._ 'I always liked feisty women.'_

The second voice in Kakashi's head chimed in, the playful voice of the Shihouin princess.

'_Pffft. We'll see who's feisty. Most of the time it's all talk and no ink.'_

Kakashi rubbed his temple, muttering for the voices to stop, even as a few people in the office stopped to stare at the talented nut-case now talking to himself.

'_Crazy one, that.'_

* * *

Night was upon the day faster than one would have expected. And even as it approached, night found Uzumaki Naruto in a place he hadn't visited in a long while.

The sound of the leaves whispering to the wind was a pleasant one, even as he spied the moon through the gap in the canopy. Shafts of dull silver moonlight made their way through the green cover, giving the place the ethereal feel that Naruto was so familiar with and loved. The air was cool, clean and fresh…such a change from the usual flavored air in the village, one that was full of life, enthusiasm, hope and cheer.

He brought his right hand in front of his face. A droplet of blood broke off from the side of his palm and dropped onto his white hoodie. The rest of the blood had already dried, making it look as if his hand was colored red in itself.

And even as he brought the hand towards his lips, even as his tongue darted out lightly to lick the blood-soaked hand, he thought he heard the man's whisper.

'_You're wondering…aren't you, whether you have done the right thing or not…? Don't, child. Remember…remember your path. Remember what you've learnt, remember what you know. Remember your suffering, Uzumaki Naruto.'_

A raw, vulgar smile seemed to play on the boy's lips, even as he reveled in the metallic after-taste.

He could hear the whispers, he could feel the soft texture of the man's _haori_ as he kneeled to ruffle his hair, and he could feel the long, elegant fingers touching his face, moving it one way and another, much like a father checking if his son had any bruises after the day's play.

His first kill. Oh, how it excited him. How it pleased him, to see that look of utter helplessness on his victim's face, to hear the mangled scream that made its way out of the half-dead man's throat. He couldn't help it…it turned him on in wild, perverse ways. His kill had pleaded, his hands clawing at this air, trying in vain to overpower him.

And all throughout, he'd laughed, a coarse, throaty laughter that had felt slightly out of place for a boy that young.

And suddenly, the whispers stopped. He was alone that night. Uzumaki Naruto stood up, looking at his blood-soaked hand. The smile was replaced by the same emotionless visage that predated his nature.

This was only his first. If he wanted to give them a reason to hate, he needed lots more.

* * *

The usual chatter was present in the halls of the Academy.

"Sasuke-_kuuuuuuuuun_! How was the test?"

Several heads turned, as Haruno Sakura bounded towards the star student, who walked in through the entrance looking like he had shit under his nose.

"Hn."

She latched onto him as usual, drawing venomous glances from multiple girls. Ino looked like she had just seen a horse give birth. Though, her glare was lasered at the boy instead of the bimbo for a change. _He deserves nothing better than that wide-forehead flat bitch, with gay pink hair..._

_Gay. _That reminded the blonde girl about the incident that had taken place the previous day. Uzumaki Naruto, of all people had decided to show his retarded(handsome) face in the Academy, after who knows how many freaking years, and had made a lame(totally apt) comment that Sasuke had climbed over the fence to hairier pastures.

She was grateful, though. That little stunt Naruto had pulled was the push she had needed to get over that jerk. _Sure,_ he was an _Uchiha, _that fucking presumptuous, judging, haughty clan with their _holier-than-thou _attitude and the _Sharingan_. Maybe they deserved to be taken down a peg.

She sauntered down the large corridor, a little away from the downright ugly Sasuke-lovers group, a small gathering of girls staring, drooling and generally providing the dreamy audience Sasuke's overinflated ego usually craved. She looked at them too with the same distasteful stare, conveniently forgetting that she used to lead that small group just a few days ago.

As the general crowd of _Genin_ probables turned left into the classroom, Ino felt a hand tap her left shoulder. Turning left, she saw no one. Just the gaggle of people walking through the door. She turned back, to find Uzumaki Naruto to her right, looking very much the badass from last week. The tousled hair looked rather spiky today. His face seemed almost too good to be true. Even the usually deal-breaking whiskers seemed manly on him. Just the nearness of him, smelling the fresh, clean scent of him, and his breath...

* * *

**And as usual, our commercial break.**

**POLOHA.**

**The _shinobi_ mint with the hole.**

**For the minty-freshness every ninja desires.**

* * *

She just wanted to reach out and cup his face in her hands, lean in closer, and...kiss him. With a start, she realized she was as red as the roses she sold on her counter. Quickly shifting her gaze down, she noticed his ring. The silver circlet seemed to give off a cool, yet somehow unfamiliar radiance. It felt like touching it was somehow forbidden, but tempting. He wasn't wearing his necklace from the other day. _All silver jewelry looks so insanely cool on him..._

Ino shook her head, dismissing the recent wave of affection. Taking a step forward, she resolved to take more care of her emotions. That resolution was broken a second later, as she banged her head on the closed door. Bouncing back, she fell flat on her behind, shouting out every swear word in the book. Her rant was interrupted by Iruka-sensei opening the door, a shocked expression on his face. Obviously, he did not expect a thirteen year old to know such language, let alone use it at an inanimate object.

She switched to abashment next. A recommendation to go shove wood somewhere was unpleasant and reprehensible in general. Doing so within earshot of a teacher was almost scandalous. _I'm so dead. There goes my reputation._

* * *

_"-SHOVE IT UP WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE, YOU F-'_

_"_I'm sorry?"

Umino Iruka opened the door, a look on his face somewhere halfway between shock and disbelief.

"..."

"Yamanaka? You have something to say?"

Uzumaki Naruto stood by in the background nonchalantly, suppressing his smile quite easily. He'd barely opened his mouth to say '_Hi'_, when Ino had drawn quite close and observed his latest accessory. Distracted, her forehead (Oh, the irony) had come into high-velocity impact with the door, resulting in the Yamanaka employing her choicest expletives at no one in general, even as Umino Iruka seemed mollified.

"Oh, and Uzumaki-kun is here too. Please come in, Naruto, we'll be started in a few minutes. Oh, and Yamanaka..." Even as he walked in, he sensed Ino ducking her head in intense embarrassment.

To his surprise, for the latter part of his sentence, Iruka-sensei's voice seemed to have undergone a change, decidedly for the worse, for Yamanaka Ino.

"...If I hear those words being used in my corridors _one_ more time..." He threatened in the deep baritone of doom, leaving the sentence unfinished for extra effect.

Ino covered her mouth, shaking her head frantically. The _sensei_ nodded sternly, before leaning on the door, waiting for a few others to file in.

"Well, great start to the big day, eh?"

"You shut your fu- _freaking_ mouth, Uzumaki Naruto. Not a single word, or I might burst. I'm having enough on my mind with Sakura and her-"

Naruto walked along the aisle, and chose a bench to sit in at random, moving slightly to the centre in order to give the blonde-haired girl space. And even as they sat, whispers seemed to fly, glances seemed to dance here and there.

_Has the Uzumaki already scored, then? Damn, he's in for a rough one if the Yamanaka girl and he are dating..._

A group of students were whispering in the background. It was barely heard, really, inaudible unless, a)You were one of the boys partaking in said gossip or b)You were Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto, however, chose to ignore it, as he casually brought his palms in front of his face, the smallest of smiles on his lips. A droplet of sweat broke off from his palm and dropped down...

"U-Uhm."

Both Naruto and Ino turned.

"C-Can I sit here, Uzumaki-k-kun?"

He blinked. _That's faster than I expected..._

_"_Oh, sure! Ne, don't ask such things, Hinata-chan!"

The whispers only seemed to intensify.

_So if he's fine with Hyuuga-san sitting next to him like that, maybe they aren't dating after all..._

He turned, returning to his neutral position. Uzumaki Naruto didn't need his peripheral vision to tell that his blonde-haired friend wasn't particularly pleased with the arrangement. On the other hand, he wasn't too concerned.

_Priorities exist...Ino-chan...I'm sorry._

* * *

Classroom Nine at the first floor of the Academy hadn't seen such silence since around the same time last year. The students were breaking something that was considered, under normal circumstances, the First Tenet of Student-hood, _Give your teacher your unconditional attention when he talks._

"Right. Now that we have all your results, I must say, even though _all_ of you have somehow passed, there were a few that...needed a little helping on the way. Quite the surprise, actually."

He paused to shoot an ill-disguised glare at Uchiha Sasuke, even as Ino stifled her snigger.

"It is, then, my pleasure to announce that your schooling days are officially over. Each of you, when you wear your headbands, should be aware of the fact that you are now stepping into another world, one that is quite similar to your quest to fill your answer-sheets, _(that drew several skeptical stares)_ in the sense that, well, you can do your best to come up with answer to a problem in life, but there is always, _always _a variable...an element of surprise, that could work for...or against you, be it the leniency and understanding of your evaluator...or your comrade's kunai that will deflect the killing blow meant for you at the very last moment. It _does_ sound frightening, but in the end, life out there...is.

Finally, as important as it is to have fear in life, as important as it is to tread cautiously out there in the world, I want to remind you that...that...it is your first duty to enjoy your work. Love what you do, and you won't _need_ to fear...even if your answer to the _Shodai_'s system of three-man cells happens to be the classification of _kunai_ as weapons.

And with that, I'd like to commence the announcement of teams for the current batch of _Genin_!"

* * *

"...Team Six will comprise of Kida Masaomi, Sonohara Anri and Ryuugamine Mikado."

Naruto leaned back, observing calmly. Next to him Yamanaka Ino was glancing around excitedly, while he could feel a gaze on him from the girl sitting on the other side. He actually felt it physically as this tsunami of affection, adoration and just plain rainbow-shit love. The Hyuuga heiress was nothing if not infatuated. _Ah, Hinata-chan, you continually amaze me with your befuddled mind._

Another flame-edged glare of anger was beaming in from the other side of the packed classroom. No prizes for guessing who. The humiliated Uchiha Sasuke had been the center of gossip since his entry into the Academy. Known as the unbeatable fighter, full-on playboy, killer of hearts, he had had a string of loyal fans follow him wherever he chose to go.

One examination with that assholehad changed everything. His sudden new 'interests' had made his male fans desert the audience he usually had, and dropped his female attendance quite a bit as well. Only the most hardcore of Sasuke fans still followed him, but even they had started whispering of a possible pairing between the two class toppers.

He channeled all his hatred towards the blonde, and noticed his number one enemy turn his head, ever so slowly, to face him. As their eyes met, there were physical sparks flashing between the two. A very tangible feeling, one that everyone in the class noticed. A murmur rose up as both the Sasuke-hater camp and the Sasuke-is-awesome-and-totally-not-gay-maybe camp both whispered anxiously.

Umino Iruka cleared his throat.

No one gave a fuck. He let out an audible sigh. This was turning out to be just like that failure of a date with Kurenai-_san_. Though, in retrospect, that was his fault. This scenario, however, wasn't.

"Attention!" he said, a little louder.

No one gave a fuck.

He was about to explode into a rant about how they all were worthless and they were never going to pass the Chuunin exam at this rate, when he noticed what was really going on. He saw the two boys staring into each other's eyes. Saw the whole class staring at the two boys, and then suddenly, sparks glowed in his vision. Strong sparks of hatred, humiliation, shattered pride, which the slightly retarded _sensei_ misconstrued as love. _Hm, _he thought, _this probably doesn't change anything, except the dynamic of the next team. Wow. Itachi with his younger brother, his younger brother's gay lover, and the gay lover's straight lover? Genius he might be, let's see him handle this._

_"_The next team," before he had the chance to say anything more, he got the undivided attention of the class. All except Sasuke and Naruto.

He paused for dramatic effect. "Uchiha Sasuke."

The two lovebirds were looking at him as well. "Uzumaki Naruto."

He had anticipated commotion. But this went to a scale beyond the murmuring he expected. There was actual talking as everybody ignored the Chuunin yet again, and looked at Sasuke and Naruto again. The black-haired boy was back to his slightly angry, yet excited stare.

Naruto swiveled his head slowly. Gave Sasuke his best, most happy smile. Then winked, and blew a kiss straight at him.

"HUH?!" The entire class went haywire at that public display of affection_(Why people shorten this to PDA, I'll never know.)_

Iruka gave up trying to control the chaos. He simply sat in his chair, muttering to himself about the weird life choices kids made these days.

* * *

Haruno Sakura was aghast. She was Sasuke-_kun_'s girlfriend. Naruto had no _freaking_ right to do what he'd just done. She started to move towards him, ready to cut his shrivelled balls and throw them out of the window he was sitting next to, when she noticed the very sad, nearly depressed girl next to him. Hinata looked ready to cry her heart out. _Maybe I'll save his rape for later... Let this pathetic stereotypical girl have her moment._

Hinata wanted to cry, but managed not to with sheer effort of will. She raised her head from her hands, and looked to the love of her life. Naruto was enjoying the scenery, totally uncaring of the complete disarray he had thrown the classroom into. He watched as a blue jay landed on the branch hanging closest to the window. He watched as it slowly dropped the tiny, squirming worms it had collected into the snapping mouths of its offspring.

As the unfortunate creatures were greedily gobbled up, a very unnatural smile seemed to break out on his impassive countenance. It seemed to split his face into two, and even from an angle almost directly behind the blonde boy, Hinata could see the glint of his right canine.

As the worm gave its last death throes, Naruto raised his hand to his exposed teeth. A small drop of water, or sweat or something had condensed on his ring. Darting his tongue out, he touched it with the tip. As soon as his tongue left the ring's surface, the drop was gone, like it had been completely absorbed. He smiled for a second longer, then resumed his plain, slightly bored expression.

_He seems to be taking great pleasure in the situation the worms are in... _Thought the heiress of the _Byakugan_, but quickly dismissed the idea, reprimanding herself for even coming up with it. _I won't think like that. Naruto-kun could never think like that. He's kind and cheerful and I love him. He just loves birds, that's all._

"Hyuuga Hinata."

* * *

The class went silent again. Why had Iruka-_sensei _mentioned her? They turned to the _Chuunin_, portraying the same question through their confused expressions.

"Team Seven," Iruka sighed. He was going to discipline the next batch of would-be _Genins_ to within an inch of their lives. "Team Seven will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Hyuuga Hinata."

The whole school heard the next few minutes of heated discussion, insulting, face-palming, and general mayhem. The Hyuuga seemed to have attained an intense orgasm, and was staring at Naruto with unicorns and rainbows and all that girly stuff in her eyes.

Amplifying his voice with Spirit _chakra, _Iruka silenced the room with a shouted, near deafening "SILENCE!" Continuing on, he announced the next two teams before anyone had the chance to speak another words.

"Team Eight will consist of Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino." Iruka ignored the hideous look Sakura gave him for teaming her up with the guys with the creepiest abilities of all time, and for not putting her in with Sasuke.

_Sorry, Sakura, but I really didn't want couples in the same cell. Little did I know Naruto and Sasuke would be one... Hinata seems to be in a one-sided love, as far as I know, so I deemed it safe. Whatever. Genins should learn to cope with whatever shit is thrown at them. You don't have a choice, you freaking spoiled kids..._

Continuing, he announced the next few teams. Sakura frankly didn't care anymore. Now, she wasn't in her boyfriend's team, and to use a flamethrower on a fresh wound, his homosexual partner was. _I don't care, Sasuke-kun. I'm never letting you go too far away from me._

When Ino's name was mentioned, her ears pricked up, but it was some random team, with Shikamaru and Choji. She slid down in her table, wearily anticipating the _Jonin-sensei _who was going to be their cell leader.

_Fuck this. Fuck the Jonin, whoever it is. Fuck Iruka-sensei, and all of his crap._

_And FUCK YOU, Uzumaki Naruto._

_I HATE YOU!_

* * *

_And suddenly, the whispers stopped. He was alone that night. Uzumaki Naruto stood up, looking at his blood-soaked hand. The smile was replaced by the same emotionless visage that predated his nature._

The night had still been young.

_His palm clasped the man's mouth with an iron grip. The man struggled, he thrashed around, beating wildly on his captor's hand, red eyes darting pleadingly over to the boy's companion._

_Uchiha Itachi stood behind, kissed by shadows, as emotionless as the dark that was closing in on the poor victim that night._

_The boy's eyes seemed to be wide, observing his victim with nothing more than mild curiosity...and even as the victim's cries slowly came to a halt, his wild thrashing reduced to mere twitches...a small, coy smile danced on the boy's lips._

_The boy's lips never moved, and yet the voice came floating by, one with the wind in the dark clearing on that night._

_'I can show you...I have no intention of deceiving anyone...'_

You see, for a crime to take place, for the criminal to face judgment before the eyes of God, there needs to be a victim...a sacrifice, in order to ensure that the criminal can be charged guilty.

_The laugh seemed to ring in Uchiha Shisui's ears, as terror closed in on him. The grip tightened. And slowly, Uzumaki Naruto's right hand snaked up, towards his cheek, stroking it as a lover would._

_He pleaded, he pleaded to all his Gods, he pleaded for something...anything to free him...oh please...oh please...oh please..._

_No help would arrive._

_The boy's hands crawled towards his eyes. For a moment, it was just the two of them, Uchiha Shisui, Uzumaki Naruto...he stared into the boy's hazel-brown eyes, so...so lifeless..._

_And then, the moment disappeared. The fingers crawled up, and in one fluid motion, clawed into his eyes._

_'AAAAAAAARGHHAAAURHH AHH AHHHH'_

_Two fingers dug into his eyes, pain, fuck FUCK FUUUUCK, GOD PLEASE...OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE-_

_The man's screams reached a crescendo as the boy drew his fingers out, having got what he wanted. He smiled...ah, an excellent symphony...and even as it reached the crescendo, as Uchiha Shisui reached a level of pain that could kill in sheer intensity...the boy's smile vanished._

There was a time when Uchiha Shisui had taught all he could have to Naruto...Uzumaki Naruto...there was a time when their relationship was that of an elder and a younger brother.

Or...or was it all...just an...

_The windpipe ruptured, and Uchiha Shisui's world converged in a pinnacle of pain and ecstasy...relief...relief at last..._

Death.

* * *

**A promise.**

**What, you ask?**

**I will not abandon this story. I will stick by it. I will try to update as soon as possible.**


	7. Orange and Black

**Son of a bitch!**

**The actual fuck?**

**I thought it was over!**

**It ain't? Whooooooooooooooooeasowfofafwnwu23232346hyu568hn 437884264347!?**

***further fangirling***

* * *

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH. THAT'S DBZ'S THANG.**

* * *

_The wall of fire encircled them. Unrelenting. Solid. _

_Uzumaki Naruto didn't even bat an eyelid. He gazed into the raging torrent, eyes shining in the angry vermilion tones of the flames._

_He'd been here long enough._

_None of the worthless, miserable creatures had served his purpose. The time for games had ended._

_He glanced at the silver-haired man standing at his side._

_'Let's go, Gin.'_

_'It's time.'_

* * *

**_'In my eyes, there's no difference between wiping away one speck of dust or two.'_**

**_-Aizen Sousuke_**

* * *

"Shisui's...dead?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen was glaring daggers at Hatake Kakashi. The _Jonin_, on the other hand, wasn't in the least surprised. He stood there, waiting to be dismissed, boredly scratching the scalp behind his forehead protector. It was a warm summer evening, and the humidity was irritating. Also, that retard Urahara was simply not shutting the _fuck_ up. It seemed like he had a huge pretentious monologue prepared for every possible situation in his life.

_"Will you close that mouth of yours for just a little while, Urahara? We're all damn pissed off now, ya' little swizzle-shit..." _At least Yoruichi was on his side. Shisui's death was actually a revelation, but it really wasn't necessary for the geezer to make such a big deal out of it. _Yeah, you tell him that, and we'll see how he emasculates you... _Both the voices inside his head spoke simultaneously.

Kakashi gave the most solemn look he could manage. It wasn't that much of a challenge. He simply replicated his face when he had read the death of Igarashi Tora in _Icha Icha Paradaisu. That scene always gets me sad and contemplative. _At least the _Sandaime _seemed mollified.

_WAIT WAIT WAIT. MAKE-OUT PARADISE? _Urahara was back. Both Kakashi and Yoruichi sighed. _Fifteen seconds. That's how long we got him to shut the fuck up. _Now that the sandy-haired pervert had gotten hold of this news, he wasn't going to let go.

"You're dismissed. I need some time to think what this implies." With a crisp bow, Hatake Kakashi left the chamber. Closing his mental 'ears', so to speak, he tried his best to ignore the laughter in the background, as the two idiots read the chapters off his memories of them.

_Creepy how they can do that..._

* * *

_N-n-n-n-n-n-n-naruto-k-k-k-k-kun!_

It was only the first day of training, but Hyuuga Hinata was in paradise. Seeing her Naruto-_kun_ in that absolutely risqué black, sleeveless undershirt, sweating profusely as he fought Itachi-_san_ in a hand-to-hand battle really got her freak juice flowing. She'd almost orgasmed for the second time when he deftly blocked Itachi's thrust with his elbow, and delivered the finishing strike with a confident, cocky smile.

To her right, Uchiha Sasuke was definitely having the exactly opposite experience. Seeing the familiarity with which the two read each other's moves, and the extent to which the Uzumaki was above him in skill had caused a _de_rection in the usually self-confident Uchiha. She could actually see lines of fuming heat above his head, as they watched the two go at it.

"Time!" Itachi called. Naruto stepped back, not even breathing heavily. The silver bracelet on his wrist glinted in the midmorning sunlight. _It's a different article every time... _Hinata had noticed the silver. Sasuke stood up like someone had lit a fire under him. Not even glancing at the heiress for her permission, he stepped forward for his turn.

She didn't even notice him treading over her. All she had in her mind, was her _oh-so-cool _Naruto-_kun_.

After that time she'd followed him into the woods, he'd been surprisingly open about it to her. He'd described the secret training him and Itachi had done, deep in the forest, where no one would find out. And, she'd accepted his answers at face value, because that's what she did. _(Uselessly enable everyone around her)_

_I hope you get along well with Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun..._

* * *

Uchiha Itachi observed his little brother approach, with embers smoldering in his eyes. It was the first time he'd been so fired up about anything, let alone training. For his ability to grasp everything in an instant had instilled a sort of dispassionate behaviour in him, which Itachi had not gotten around to beating the shit out of. Now was his chance to do so.

He looked at Naruto. The sweat-soaked _Jinchuuriki _made eye contact, and gave the slightest of nods. The two brothers got into position. In an instant, the match had begun. The younger of the two siblings got to work first, directly going into the most ferocious of offensives. A spinning jump kick, followed instantly by a jab with the right palm, he emulated the swirling torrents of a whirlwind. Keeping himself spinning, he lowered his center of gravity. Jumping and locking both his knees straight, he rose steadily, fist already clenched.

Itachi simply brushed away his advances with a callous, bemused smile on his face. If this was the best Sasuke could come up with, despite his great talent, then he might as well give up. The elder brother suddenly blocked a kick with great force, so much that Sasuke was sent back, stumbling. His eyes were wide with shock. After the spar with Naruto, this fight felt meaningless and mundane.

Itachi saw _it, _though. The deep smoulder in his younger brother's eyes, one which suggested that he was serious now. His mind left the task at hand, and began to wander, exploring deep, dark recesses in his mind, dragging out fond memories.

_Not that way, doofus!_

_Oh really? You're the doofus! You're an idiot as well, nii-chan!_

_Sheesh... Why won't you listen to me, Sasuke? A kunai is_ this. _The thingy in your hand is a shovel._

_Nii-chan, you fool!_ This _is the real kunai, not your fake one!_

As he reminisced, he noticed Naruto looking at him. Ducking under yet another futile, weak punch, he caught Naruto's gaze. The Uzumaki gave the slightest of nods, imperceptible to everyone but those used to seeing it. Itachi's smile widened, now almost splitting his face in half. Taking a quick few steps back, he settled into a defensive position, awaiting Sasuke's next move.

As Sasuke advanced steadily, Itachi willed out as much _chakra _as was humanly possible. His eyes first turned the typical deep crimson for the _sharingan, _and then the dark comma-shaped spots in the irises swirled, merged and transformed into a three-bladed scythe. Itachi saw his brother's eyes widen with shock, and then totally go dead, as he launched his most ferocious _genjutsu _onto him.

_"Tsukuyomi!"_

* * *

_Orange and black._

_Time. Oh, the slowness of it._

_It's clawing at my soul. Pressing, digging its long, menacing talons right into my throat._

_I can't bear it any more._

_It feels...different. The pain, that is..._

_It's more like a sword now. Like it's being drawn out from a sheath._

_Wait. The sheath is me. I am the sheath._

_Blood. Dripping. Oozing. Pouring into the endless hole in my soul._

_Why won't it end? Why?_

_WHY?_

_The steel feels cold. Deathly cold. It's sliding out, slower than a glacier, more painfully than a saw ripping my muscles._

_My hands seem...stuck. More than just stuck._

_Immobile. Unmovable._

_Blood flows steadily from the new orifices in my body, ones I did not have before._

_More blood. Or rather, the same blood flows, and flows again._

_This constant cycle has infested my brain._

_When will it end? When?_

_WHEN?_

_The sound of shattering glass... Somehow familiar, comforting._

_I can sense the fragments falling around me._

_Except it isn't glass. Ice, rather._

_Cold. Oh, so cold. My body's freezing._

_There's going to be a blizzard coming down soon._

_The fight is over. I have nothing more left to give._

_Will this ever end? Will it?_

_WILL IT?_

_Hi...Hi..._

_HINAMORI!_

* * *

Sasuke screamed and sat up.

Eyes bulging, pupils dilated, he remained unresponsive even as his _nii-chan _held him by the shoulder and shook him. His eyes were blurry with tears. His right hand had been clawing at his chest. There were tears in his sweater, and deep, bleeding furrows showed through the ripped fabric. He'd nearly torn his heart out, judging by the depth of the nail marks.

He drew a large, shuddering breath. His mind was racing, utterly blank.

_What just happened? What in God's name happened?_

One moment, he was about to fight Itachi, and the next, he was sprawled here, blood streaming from his self-inflicted wounds. His mind was awhirl, spinning round and round. The only explanation was that his brother had done something to him. It wasn't one he was ready to accept; not now, not ever. _Not my nii-chan. Not him._

"Sasuke!"

His mind exited its reverie, as he heard that flaming, irritating voice again. Eyes refocusing, he glared at the figure in _orange and black_ that was looking at him with clearly feigned concern. A small twitch to his lips, as though they were voluntarily being held back from curving into a smile, told him all that he needed to know. This was Naruto's doing. Definitely.

His heart ached again, but this time, it was for vengeance. Never before had he felt such burning hatred for another person. Sure, the Sasuke-hater camp loved to gossip about his innate fear and distrust of women in general, judging by the way he treated them, but _hate _was never a word associated with the Uchiha prodigy.

_I hate you, Uzumaki Naruto. _There was a deep calm to his thoughts now, a sense of justified rationality. There was no mistaking it.

_I fucking hate you._

* * *

The late afternoon sun was giving everything a warm afterglow. Everything was lit up in a sort of golden hue, shining in the slanted rays, giving off shadows which merged and split off each other, like a criss-cross spider's web. It was the perfect setting for some practice.

Nara Shikamaru scratched his head in annoyance. _This is just so freaking boring... Why does Dad want me to do this? _It was at the specific behest of Nara Shikaku that his lazy, reluctant son had come here, to the training grounds at this ungodly hour, to fine-tune his _ninjutsu. _He formed the seals, and a slightly darker shadow spread across the lazy, idyllic landscape.

He split the shadow into the same web he saw that existed in the field. Training this technique required increase in both duration and area covered. It was a rapid drain on his _chakra, _like someone had just removed the plug in a smallish bathtub. Sweating profusely, he controlled his shadows, doing the movement and stretching exercises his father had taught him a few weeks ago.

_Training is the most important bit when improving oneself, especially when it comes to our special ninjutsu. _His father's words came back to him, recollections of a distant, foggy memory. _The efficient use of chakra is far, far more important than the sheer volume you utilise. Remember, smart work beats hard work any day of the year._

_Sheesh, _Shikamaru had sighed out loud, _do you have to use these retarded clichés, Dad?_

He resumed his training, unaware of the person watching him with detached bemusement. To be fair, he was invisible to all but whom he deemed worthy. He fiddled with the blades of grass under his palms, silently laid out on the grass, enjoying the beautiful evening. Quite nonchalantly, he plucked a single blade, and put it in between his lips. It even gave _him_ a jaunty, rakish appearance.

"You know, people don't usually respect those with such relaxed, rural habits," A voice spoke from behind him. Without opening his eyes, he let the blade fall, slowly releasing it from his mouth. Giving a small smile, he continued watching the young teenager, who had produced the most exquisite lace-like pattern on the meadow.

"Very well, Naruto-_kun_..." he replied, voice almost a whisper, "What would you rather have me do? I suppose playing the fiddle is certainly out of the question?"

The blond-haired boy sat down next to him, and gazed out over the scenery. His azure eyes seemed to have a small sparkle. "I suggest you continue with whatever strikes your fancy," he replied, in the same polite, nonchalant tone as before.

Aizen Sosuke continued to keep his eyes closed, and his mouth shut. He hadn't had his fill of enjoyment from this amusing little village yet; there was quite a ways to go. Hate was an addictive emotion. The more you immerse yourself into it, the more you start to crave. Uzumaki Naruto craved for even more still. The boy was like an endless well into which he gathered all the negative emotions he could possibly fill. Malice, hatred, jealousy, pride... Oh, he could fill everyone else's need and still not feel the difference.

_A very interesting case. _Their next act towards acquiring all that coveted hatred wasn't to begin for another three hours. Aizen's mind switched from the present to the past, going over their _'highlights', _so to speak. Their masterpiece, he still felt, was how they had managed to gain the Uchiha genius' allegiance. The mind rape they'd achieved then was something Aizen would remember for a long, long time.

There was still quite a lot left on their agenda. Naruto-_kun _was probably the perfect instrument for that.

_I shall not be disappointed again, I believe. I believe in the hate they bear towards you, Naruto-kun..._

The blade of grass left the man's mouth, and drifted lazily onto the picturesque landscape.

* * *

It was well past time.

_Where the fuck is he?_

Yamanaka Ino fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, trying to keep her expression neutral. It was a massive effort not to burst out in anger and storm away. The blonde was going to regret this, sure as all hell. He was an hour and a half late. _Kami-sama_ only freaking knew why she was still there.

He'd specifically asked her for this. Now he himself was a no-show? _Oh, the nerve..._

There was a flash of movement next to her, a sudden shadow that seemed to shift, apparently on its own. She looked at that point for a second longer, slightly freaked. Nothing else happened. Maybe it was just her imagination.

She'd been having a lot of these incidents lately. The feeling that someone was watching, following her everywhere she went, observing every minute of her day with stalker-like stealth. She'd begun to look over her back more and more often during the day. Her stupid, lazy teammates weren't helping at all. Sure, Shikamaru was capable, but all he said when she told him about this was _'Boo...Freakin'...Hoo.'_

She'd felt like tearing that piece of shit a new one, but what Choji had said after that was even worse. "D'oh... Just ask your boyfriend _Sasuke _to protect you..." He had managed in a whole minute, munching on those stupid potato chips as he said it.

It would suffice to say that those chips weren't the only thing Choji loved that had crunched that day.

Anyway, the fear and nervousness was returning fast. She rubbed both her arms. The evening warmth had come and gone, leaving her wearing only a tank top in the chilly wind. And that bitch was still not here yet.

_Another minute, _she decided. _Then it's curtains, Naruto-kun. _She hated her utter lack of self-respect, but what was to be done? Naruto-_kun _was just someone she found extremely hard to say no to. It wasn't like he asked her for stuff very often, so this must be important.

A glint caught her eye. The chain hanging down over the deep black undershirt caught the moonlight. It shone bright silver, just like it did during the day. He was finally here. Giving the _Jinchuuriki _her most hateful stare, she turned and looked away.

He approached, and suddenly the presence vanished. She could physically feel the tension flow out of her body as her heart rate slowed, and her breathing got less anxious. She kept facing away from the blonde, putting on a fine farce of sulky ignorance.

He had the grace to look embarrassed.

"My apologies, Ino-_chan_," Somehow, she felt she'd heard him say that exact phrase before. _Hmm. Deja vu._

He waited for her to nod, and continued. "I was delayed by Sasuke-_kun's _rather sudden hospitalization, I'm afraid,"

Ino's heart literally stopped beating. For the Yamanaka still held a considerable amount of concern for her ex-significant other's well-being. Yes, she hated him, but not to that extent. "W-What happened?"

Naruto seemed melancholy, yet stoic. At this point, he existed solely as a shoulder to cry on.

"It was an unforeseen training accident. Sasuke was having a sparring match with our _Jonin-sensei, _when he mistimed his evasive maneuver. Although his wounds are not very serious, he was hit quite close to his heart." the _kunoichi _was silent. She just held her breath. _Please, let him be fine..._

Naruto's eyes actually looked a little downcast.

"He is recovering right now. It seems that there will be no lasting damage. I really hope he gets better soon." Ino was surprised by the sincerity in his voice. Frankly, from his recent behaviour, he had come across as a little... _distant. _Especially when she'd seen him during the time before the _Genin _tests, when he'd handed that cocky son of a bitch his ass on a silver platter. Also, during and after the examination, Naruto always seemed like someone who gave no fucks, and didn't expect any to be given about him, either.

Naruto fingered the chain around his neck. "Anyway, I am most certainly sorry to have kept you waiting like this, Ino-_chan," _he said, with the debonair grace of a panther. Looking into her eyes, he flashed a smile.

_There it is again. _Ino noticed the dull, opaque glint she'd seen during the _Genin _tests. It was getting less frequent with time, but sometimes, when he looked into the distance, there was still the sparkle of hope in his eyes. Hope that something would change, that something would rescue him from the soulless abyss his life had become.

She felt a pang of regret. All she wanted to do was take him into her arms, and...

* * *

**_The producers regret the direction the story's taking, so we're going to skip the hormonal blonde's wet dream._**

**_On with the good stuff..._**

* * *

Shaking her head, she dismissed the last five seconds of fantasizing from her mind.

"Ino-_chan_?" Naruto was waiting for something. Dimly, she remembered him asking her something.

"Uh-huh..." She nodded her head like a dumb farm animal, unable to recall the question.

Naruto let out a small chuckle. "You never cease to amaze me, Ino-_chan_..."

His expression suddenly changed, into a far more solemn one. He said the next line in a husky whisper, almost in an undertone.

_"You're as sly as a fox."_

* * *

_"Ino!"_

_Dim lights marked the entrance. Late evening had settled in, and the flower shop was closed. A shutter closed somewhere, in the distance. Konoha was closing for the night. The blonde boy next to her was the only other sign of life._

_"Ino-chan!" he implored._

_His eyes were brimming with tears. He did not want to be alone; not today, of all days. Not on his birthday. She glanced at him again. Her heart went out to him; given his sorry state. Bruises and cuts marked him from head to toe._

_For as long as she knew the blonde, he'd never not hurt himself in some way or the other._

_'He's just exceptionally clumsy,' was all her mother would tell her._

_As she stood there, looking into his cerulean eyes, her mother's call came again, more insistent this time._

_"INO!"_

_Naruto had begun sniffling quietly._

_For as long as she knew the blonde, he had never cried. Not in front of anyone, anyway._

_As she stood there, unable to decide whether to go home and leave him here, or ignore her mother and stay with him, the decision was made for her. A rough hand suddenly held her shoulder, pulling her into the front doorway._

_"Let's go, Ino. It's late enough already."_

_Her father's face seemed...worried. The way he kept looking at Naruto, all the while taking her away from him insistently, made her mind up._

_As she struggled to escape the hands holding her, she stared right into the blonde boy's eyes. He held the gaze for a second, then looked away._

_It was not until the door had almost closed in front of her did she glimpse the first tear fall._

* * *

"So, Ino-_chan, _where do you want to go for dinner?" Naruto's voice broke her out of her reverie.

She shook her head, trying to focus her thoughts.

"Umm..._ramen, _I suppose." she mumbled. "Yes. _Ramen _would be good."

As she followed the blonde to Ichiraku's, she stared at his back, wondering what had just happened.

_Did I know Naruto-kun back then?_

_Did I really?_

* * *

**Ohmigosh.**

**Heavens. It's been far, faaaar too long.**

**Writers' block is a bitch, I tell you.**

**Anyway, tell me what you guys think.**

**Good enough?**

**I will elaborate the use of the Tsukuyomi, probably in the next chapter.**

**So, probably...never.**

***smiles sheepishly***

**That's all, I suppose.**

**Keep the reviews coming, I guess? Despite my horrible writing speed?**


	8. Obsession

**I was hoping against hope that this chapter, at least, came a teensy bit faster than the one before.**

**Well, fuck that. **

**I'm sure no one gives a shit.**

**Let's bang!**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER : THE AUTHOR DOES NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH. **

**STUDIO PIERROT IS FUCKING UP THINGS ENOUGH ALREADY, EVEN WITHOUT THIS GENIUS'S INPUT.**

* * *

_The preparations were complete._

_The Hougyoku levitated over his palm, rotating slowly. Uzumaki Naruto couldn't suppress his enthusiasm._

_Those imbeciles never understood just how incompetent they really were._

_Inoue-chan looked on, unbridled fear coursing through her faltering gaze._

_He gave Ulquiorra a meaningful glance. __The Espada seemed to understand; he bowed deeply._

_The moment was nigh. __The Gargantua opened with a cacophonous screech. _

_An uncharacteristic joy began welling up to the surface of his consciousness. He allowed it to rise up and fill his mind, this one time._

_It was going to be Urahara Kisuke's sheer defeat, after all._

* * *

**'_Isn't it ironic, king of Hueco Mundo? Dressed in black and poised to attack; you look just like a Shinigami.'_**

**_-Aizen Sousuke_**

* * *

With a massive crash, the decapitated tree hit the ground.

Dropping his arm, Uchiha Sasuke, too, dropped to the grass. He wasn't sure how many hours had passed since he last ate. Or rather, he didn't care. There was but one thing on his mind. One person, in fact. And that one dickbag was going to get his fair share of pain.

He lay there, huffing like a panda in heat. Sweat covered his bare upper body. A few rivulets of it were getting dangerously close to soaking through his bandages. A little more, and the brine would seep right into the not-yet-healed furrows in his chest. Eventually, it would lead to crazy, mind-numbing torture if it happened.

But he didn't give a damn. Taking another deep breath, he hyperventilated, driving the lactic acid out of his muscles. Rising to his feet, he concentrated. Activating the _Sharingan _in a thoroughly weakened state such as his was no laughing matter. A full minute later, his irises began taking on the dull crimson hue, a testament to the bloody history of the famous _Dojutsu-_wielding clan.

_Let's take it again from the top._ Starting his motions again, he swept through the dense forest, pretending the trees were an army of _shinobi._ He had to resort to such loner level training because his traitor of a _nii-san _had ditched him for that blonde nimrod. _Blonde. _That sent another spike of rage, and his punch, initially intended to lightly tap the trunk, went clean through. Again, in a similar result, the tree fell.

He'd seen his brother's _Sharingan _change for an instant. The second before he raped him, Sasuke had noticed the three commas swirling into a scythe-like shape. He had to know how, for the accompanying _chakra _burst was outrageous. Now that he knew where his brother's loyalties lay, he had to work that much harder in order to sway him. His spar had been a major humiliation. He'd not landed a single hit, despite his constant effort.

That was, in all likelihood, his last session for the day. As he flopped back down onto the grass, he couldn't help but feel a sense of grudging respect for his arch-enemy. He had, after all, stood against _the _Uchiha Itachi, and held his own superbly. His thoughts drifted lazily, and his mind began to wander.

_"My, my. What do we have here?"_

All the rage was back. Jumping to his feet faster than most would have believed possible, he searched around for the source of that voice. He _knew _that voice. Its very deceptively calm nature, all too similar to that of his nemesis, sent a chill down his spine. The Uchiha prodigy spun on his toes, trying to catch a glimpse of the face behind the voice. All that remained before him was empty, hollow forest.

The leaves made small crunching noises below his feet as he sprinted around the entire area of the forest. He simply _had _to know. Glancing frantically, his sense of calm began eroding, an altogether frequent experience for the stud boy in the last few days. Finally skidding to a halt under the leafy canopy of a clearing, he fought to catch his breath. Clutching a low-hanging branch like flotsam in a whirlpool, he gasped for air, trying to drive the fear out of his mind.

He had never been as confused, befuddled and plain _afraid _as he was right then. His eyes kept darting left and right, trying to catch a glimpse of the unknown person calling out to him. It suddenly dawned upon him that he had exhausted all of his _chakra _while training. There was no recourse but for _Taijutsu. _

_"Come...Closer..."_

Jumping violently, he whipped his head around. This time, it had come from behind him. This person certainly wanted to fuck with his mind, whoever it was.

"Show yourself, you worthless piece of scum!" he screamed to nobody in particular. Willing out every last drop of _chakra _from his system, he forced his _Sharingan _to activate. No matter how dire the situation, he was invincible as long as he had that.

Nothing. Not even a smidgen. As he searched his surroundings, the natural _chakra-_sensing technique he was employing wasn't having an effect at all. And yet, the unknown voice resonated in his ears, teasing him, provoking him, calling him ever so _closer..._

With a sudden effort, he shook his head violently. Distancing his mind from these unnecessary distractions, he forced himself to get back to his training. Resuming his stance, he began. As he worked up his seventh sweat of the day, his mind kept niggling him with doubt. Somewhere inside, he felt that the voice didn't exist.

It probably had been a figment of his imagination, an illusion his brain had conjured to make him continue training. _A mere hallucination. _

He paid no heed. Anything that got him back on his feet and start training again was justified.

Placing the object of his loathing in front of him, he entered a one-legged spin, pretending to decapitate the piece of shit. Exiting the movement more perfectly than ever before, he hopped and skipped forward, testing out new attack combinations with increased ferocity and speed.

His overworked, sleep-deprived consciousness began to fade, bringing up the past like a slowly growing haze.

Random memories arose, some unbidden, some not.

_The flowers were out. Sakura flowers, he recalled._

_As he held his mother's hand to cross the busy street, he felt a surge of fear. What if he let go?_

_What would happen then? His tiny hands grasped his mother's outstretched finger ever so tightly._

_No. That would never happen. His mother would never let go._

_Looking out from behind her, he couldn't help but feel giddy with happiness. _

_For today was the day he started. Started on his path to become a shinobi. _

_He recalled his euphoria, his excitement._

Matching his emotions, his movements slowed down, fluidly transforming from one motion to another.

The very image of poetry in motion.

_They soon arrived. The gates of the Academy had seemed much smaller in reality. __As his mother opened the gate, he heard footsteps behind him._

_A single child ran towards them from amidst the chaos. __His blonde hair glistened in the sun, the excess water dropping out as he sprinted over to the open gate._

_He remembered his mother's grip tighten that moment, as if in fear. Somehow, that sight didn't scare him in the slightest._

_Rather, it filled him with a vision of the very freedom he so desperately desired._

_Freedom to leave the walls of the enclosure. Freedom to run about the village, jumping across buildings like the grown-ups did._

_The kid suddenly looked at the Academy gate, an expression of pure mischief on his face._

_Running towards it with a massive head of steam, he jumped. Vaulting the six-foot gate with ease, he spun in mid-air, flashing him with a toothy grin that seemed to split his face._

_He felt a sense of wonder as he observed the kid. He was definitely someone his own age. Maybe he too was coming here, to the Academy._

_Maybe they were going to be classmates. He could be the kid's...friend, perhaps?_

_His exhilaration reached its peak. The day could not have started any better._

His motion began to resemble a whirlwind coursing through the depths of the deserted forest. The Uchiha began to reach into the depths of his unfathomable potential, as new ideas, new patterns began unveiling themselves in his mind. He was invincible now, with his _Sharingan, _and the conviction that his nemesis's back was in close range.

_Nemesis._

_He recalled a second shuffle of footsteps behind him as the kid ran on, entering the main doorway of the Academy._

_A guy dressed in the standard flak jacket of the Konoha elite raced towards the gate as well, shouting to the mischievous brat who'd casually escaped his watchful eye._

_"Wait, you little upstart!" he yelled._

_ "Wait, Naruto-kun!"_

His body suddenly spasmed. His reality crumbled in front of his eyes, like a bad painting being torn apart. It was replaced by the same scene that had ended all six of his previous training sessions.

_Orange and black. _

He began hyperventilating again, his body spiralling out of his control.

Before he knew it, he was back on his back, lying down. His heart beat painfully inside his torso as he drove away the last dregs of the insane hallucination from his head. Another felled tree stood/lay before his panting body, seemingly a result of his recurring panic attacks. His fingernails, usually manicured to perfection, were now a bloody mess. His _chakra _had run out halfway through his movements, causing him to physically dig through the tree trunk, clawing at it haphazardly until it had finally crashed down.

He lay there, too tired to even try to dissipate the cloud hanging over his thoughts. He knew what would happen. The cycle seemed endless. There seemed to be no way out of it.

And suddenly, there it was. _Number eight begins, _he mumbled to himself.

_"Come to me, Sasuke-kun..."_

_"Come..."_

* * *

_Sunlight. _

Yamanaka Ino awoke. She had somehow managed to return to her own bedroom, _Kami _only knew how. The slanting rays of the early morning sun gave a pleasant warmth to her entire body.

Yet, deep inside, she felt the frigid chill of uncertainty.

_What, in Heaven's name, did I do yesterday?_

Her head seemed muddled, like someone had hit her really hard with a baseball bat. _Whatever in the world is this baseball? _she'd often wondered.

The blonde-haired _kunoichi _stumbled her way to the wash basin, and splashed some cool water on her face. Some of the fog surrounding the events of the last day began to unravel. She'd first met Naruto-_kun, _and then they'd gone for dinner at Ichiraku's. Ino tried her best to search for more details, but to no avail.

"Ino!" the voice belonged to her mother, a mixture of worry and concern. Shuffling her feet reluctantly, she opened her room door and began to make her way downstairs. She felt exhausted, quite like the day Iruka-_sensei _had made her and Sasuke run a hundred laps of the Academy building for sneaking a kiss outside of class as he was teaching. Oh, that had taught them a lesson all right. Sasuke had _not _been happy about it, but it wasn't her job any more to give a damn.

Stumbling a little on the last step, she finally reached the dining room. Her father was also there. She might have gotten a week's break from being a _Genin, _but his work never ended. He was one of the major contributors to the village's security. The combo of him and the lazy chode Shikamaru's dad was quite the strong wall of protection from which Konohagakure benefited in its entirety.

Seeing his daughter enter, he put down the communique he held in his hands. Meal times were for family, her mother always insisted. Plopping down onto the wooden chair, she waited for her mother to ladle out the morning porridge. Fidgeting with her fingernails, she racked her mind, trying desperately to remember what had happened the previous night.

Somehow, the mood in the room did not fit the usual breakfast scene. Inoichi should have customarily begun to ask for his _bento; _he did that every morning, as soon as he was done with his paper. His mother, too, did not have the air of haste around her. It seemed like the two of them were way more laid back than usual. The general air of unease was making her nervous.

"What happened, Dad?" she ventured. From previous experience, the blonde knew that her father wouldn't respond immediately. He needed a little coaxing. When he remained characteristically silent, she opened her mouth to ask again, when it finally hit her. The angle of the sunlight was all wrong. This wasn't the usual time she woke up; it was closer to late afternoon. She would be having a late lunch.

Also, her father wasn't at work today. He never missed a day. That was his pact with himself, and the village's safety depended on it.

_Something must be seriously wrong._

Ino watched silently from her seat as her mother came up and placed her hands on her father's shoulders. Eyes widening with fear, she kept looking at both their downturned eyes, searching for answers.

"What happened? Tell me!" she implored them.

Her mother seemed on the verge of tears. Ino felt a lump in her throat. _Was it something I did?_

She mentally beseeched them to answer her. To tell her what had freaking happened. Something. _Anything._

"I think it's time, dear," Inoichi said to his wife. Her mother nodded, wiping away a stray tear from her eye.

Ino was flabbergasted. She'd never been ignored like this in her entire life. Suddenly, on a whimsical thought, she pinched her arm, trying to test if it was a dream. The sharp sting was proof enough. This was real; she was real, but her parents were acting otherwise.

Waving her arms desperately, she tried to catch their attention.

"Why can't you hear me? Why _won't _you? Mom! DAD!" her cries got increasingly frantic.

The two suddenly gazed at the clock. It had just struck three. Behaving as if Ino didn't even exist, her father walked out of the room, a little to the left of where she was standing. A solitary tear fell from even the battle-hardened veteran's right eye, soaking into the _tatami _matting.

Ino's mind was spinning. She did not understand one whit of what was happening. Was she being ignored, or did she simply cease to exist? Her panicking mind decided to try again to establish her presence. Walking up to her mother, she screamed in her face.

"MOM! Can't you see me?"

She gave away no sign that she'd heard. Not even a glance towards her daughter, nothing. As she was slowly walking out, not even trying to hold back her tears, Ino bodily blocked her way, spreading her arms.

"I won't let you pass, mom! I _won't!"_ Ino too, had started crying, as though the fear and confusion had finally reached a peak and broken that invisible dam. Still keeping her glistening eyes facing the ground, her mother too sidestepped her, rushing out of the room, from her left.

The _kunoichi _was distraught. As she followed her mother out of the dining room, a subtle smell of incense caught her nose. That was extremely weird; there was no need for incense in a flower shop. It emanated from the living room. Something in her subconscious told her to give up, insisting that she investigate this instead.

She slid back the door, and stepped inside. What she saw was indeed frightening.

A small alcove had been made in the far corner, almost like the outline of the house had been changed for that very purpose. It contained a very ornate arrangement of fresh flowers, placed on what looked like part of the mantelpiece in the foyer. Almost hidden completely by the flowers was a picture frame, above which the incense stick hung. Dreading it even as she was doing it, she moved over, peering to get a better look at the framed photograph. She knew who it was, but her laconic mind refused to believe it.

It was her image. She remembered the photo. It had been taken right after she'd become a _Genin, _just last week. Ino remembered the pride with which she'd brought back this exact snap from the developers, excited to show her mother exactly how beautiful she looked in front of the camera. Much better than ol' pinky, for sure. Her wide forehead did manage to shine exquisitely in the flashlight, though...

The depth of her predicament brought her right back to reality. Looking at the arrangement of flowers, with one chrysanthemum kept in the centerpiece, she recalled her mother's lessons.

_One chrysanthemum for every year of remembrance until the fifth year, and six total for every anniversary after that. _

_Keep that in mind, dear. You'll be a very good florist someday..._

Ino gulped at the conclusion. She didn't even need the calendar on the adjacent wall to tell her it was one year past her death. By now she'd begun to suspect that this supposed 'reality' wasn't actually _real_.

The _genjutsu_ she was under was very elaborate, she had to admit. But the consistent pattern of alternating left and right parities had already alerted her. Plus, the sudden discontinuity between sitting on the chair one moment, then standing at the doorway of the dining room was also a dead giveaway. The fact that her mother had acknowledged her existence in the beginning, as had her father, before suddenly ignoring her was proof of the technique's sheer weakness.

It was like the user had not even thought the illusion through, choosing to improvise as it progressed. One thing had become clear; someone was testing her. There was no doubt about it. A real _genjutsu _cast with malignant intentions would not have such retarded flaws. Not even if the caster was a complete nincompoop.

As the illusion began to fade, Ino couldn't help but feel curious about the date of death this faggot had assumed for her. It couldn't be too far into the future; her parents didn't look much older than they did now, and the picture inside the frame looked recent. Glancing over, she managed to read it off the page as the wall dissolved in front of her face.

_26 November._

With a sudden leap of her heart, she realized that it was three weeks from then. She forced her eyes to close and her heart rate to slow down. She prepared to spring out of whatever situation she was in and give her attacker/tester a good whack in the 'nads.

Again, she awoke in her bed. As soon as her eyes opened, she checked for more inconsistencies, which might be the effects of auxiliary _genjutsu. _She found none. The time was correct. It was seven in the morning. Scanning the entire room for the _chakra _residue of the attacker with a technique taught to her by her father, she realized an attempt to locate or identify the culprit was useless. As for _chakra _usage, there were no signs or special signatures. There was actually a startling _lack _of _chakra _in her room.

She must have dreamt the whole thing on her own. But there lay the problem. It had been too real to be a dream. The pinch, the detailing in the design of the shrine in the alcove... It was almost like something had augmented her dream, providing her sleeping brain with the necessary details. But then again, that would involve a lot of _chakra _usage, and a lot of _chakra _residue as a consequence. Also favouring the dream theory was that she'd seen the mantelpiece as the shrine. Reproducing the same design from memory wasn't very hard for the brain to do.

All this was starting to give her an early-morning migraine. Sitting back on her bed, Ino began recollecting the events of the previous day, and gave up as the headache cranked itself up a few notches.

_When I find out who did this to me, that bastard shall realize the true embarrassment of pulling his own underwear over his head._

"Ino! Are you awake?" her mother's voice came up from below. It somehow mirrored the exact emotion from her dream. Getting up quickly, she screamed a 'Yes' in reply and sprinted down the stairs. She knew that it had been a _genjutsu, _but the desire to talk normally with her parents overpowered all else. Skidding to a halt in front of the dining room, Ino was his by a sudden sense of deja vu.

The room looked the same. Her mother was cooking the same porridge, her father reading the same communique. Except that the date on the cover was correct this time around. _Why didn't I just check the date on the paper? _She mentally chastised herself for being a fucking imbecile.

Her dad put the paper down, and looked over at her.

"It's time, dear," he said to his wife. The feeling of panic arose again. Had she failed to exit the illusion? Did it restart somehow? She didn't want to live through that again, not so soon after it had happened. "Dad?" she managed through a constricted throat. It came out as a constipated squeak. His eyes moved over to Ino.

"Ino, go get changed." relief spread through her entire body. It was as if someone had cut the tension with a knife. She exhaled deeply, emptying her lungs.

"What's wrong, dear?" her mother had noticed her reaction.

"Nothing, mom..." she replied. Turning back to her father, she looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Anyway, go change." her father's voice was solemn. Her mother too seemed subdued.

"Into what?" she wondered what was going on. The whole atmosphere had a wrong feel to it. This too, wasn't how she expected her morning to start after that magical date with Naruto-_kun._

_WAIT. WHAT? Magical? _

Dim recollections of the previous evening rushed through her subconscious. The whole picture was right there, under the turbulent surface. If only she could dispel the ripples, maybe she could remember what had transpired.

"Something somber. Black, preferably," her mother interrupted her train of thought.

"We are going to a _funeral, _after all.."

Ino's head whipped around at that. Looking at her mother incredulously, she asked, "Whose funeral, Mom?"

The lack of any discernible reaction meant it wasn't immediate family. But the importance attached to attending the event meant that the deceased was like family, or at the least a close friend.

"You know your classmate Shikamaru?" her mother began hesitantly. Ino nodded.

"It's his father."

The blonde _kunoichi _was stunned.

The ticking of the wall clock punctuated the silence periodically, as Ino stared back and forth, from her dejected father to her distraught mother.

"What...the...hell?"

* * *

He stirred.

Awoken so abruptly from his slumber, Nara Shikaku took a while to answer the insistent calls of his bladder. Shaking his head frustratedly at this nighttime interruption, he walked over to the bathroom. Modern plumbing had not yet make its way to the Nara household. Clutching his _gi _around himself, he made his way over to the outhouse.

Finishing his ablutions, he re-entered the moonlit landscape, and saw exactly what he was expecting.

Uzumaki Naruto stood in front of him. The pale lighting cast a shadow over his eyes, obscuring them entirely. A stray moonbeam found its way over to his exposed canine. He had on his most innocent smile, but that solitary tooth ruined the image. Enhanced it, rather.

For tonight Naruto wasn't the easygoing, debonair thirteen-year-old _Genin _he often portrayed himself to be.

Tonight he was the assassin, ravenous for the touch of human game.

Inside his calculating mind, Shikaku had already considered and eliminated every possible escape strategy. There was no avoiding this. For even the mighty Shisui, the Uchiha prodigy, with his multitude of skills and sheer ability had fallen prey to this vicious hunter.

It was no surprise that he knew who the culprit was. Shikaku's surveillance and defence strategies were the actual backbone of the village, despite him and Inoichi never claiming any credit for it.

Naruto's tongue flicked out, passing over the sharp tooth. His smile widened.

His prey suddenly felt another presence close by. Shikaku got a mental image of a older adult male. Unlike Naruto, his clothes and visage were refined; regal even. He imagined the mastermind's brown hair move in the stiff summer breeze, a lone strand playfully dangling over his forehead.

A slight change in his killer's smile told him that his time had come.

_Be well, Shikamaru._

_I have taught you that which is necessary._

_Make me proud, my son._

The silver band on Naruto's wrist glinted suddenly as he made a quick motion with his hand. Nara Shikaku didn't even notice the _kunai _approach. Before he knew it, it was wedged in his force of impact pushed his limp body backwards, and the famed tactical genius crumpled on his back. The weapon dislodged itself as his head touched the ground, and a crimson layer of blood began spreading onto his face.

Approaching the corpse warily, as if expecting some sort of resurrection, Uzumaki Naruto maintained his smile. Kneeling on the well-trimmed lawn, he closed Shikaku's eyelids, sliding them over glazed eyes. The implement had made a diamond-shaped hole, right in the forehead. Judging by the bloodstains on the blade, it had gone a good five inches into the skull and brain.

Gripping the _kunai_ with his right hand, he lifted the still wet blade up over his mouth. A tantalizing drop of blood had formed on the pyramidal steel tip of the weapon. Closing his eyes, he extended his tongue underneath the drop. Waiting for it to fall on its own wasn't even an option any more. Uzumaki Naruto gave it a little coaxing. Just a small tap on the handle. The drop, too, gave up its hold on the cold steel, falling right on his outstretched tongue.

_"My, my..." _a voice drifted out from behind the blonde _Jinchuuriki._

_"You have made it into quite the ritual, I see," _Aizen's mellifluous voice floated over to his eardrums, now sounding like it came from every direction at once.

Naruto didn't even turn. His lips merely curved into the same casual smirk he wore on his face at all times, around those snivelling retards.

_"It is very intriguing, this obsession of yours, Naruto-kun..."  
_

The two were now face to face, all of a sudden. Nara Shikaku's body still lay there, blood soaking into the grass.

_So is yours, Aizen-san, _he replied subconsciously.

_So is yours._

* * *

The mood at the funeral was simply dead.

Hatake Kakashi picked his nose through his mask. It was not an easy task, but what could be done?

He stood alone, right at the edge of the procession, observing the general crowd. Many had chosen to take useless time out of their already insipid lives to attend this pathetic sham of a funeral. Nobody actually felt sad, or bereaved.

Nobody except the obviously mortified wife and son of the deceased. Her bawling would _not _stop; no matter how hard he tried to tune it out, it still rang irritatingly in his head.

_I wish this were over. Or that I was the one who's dead._

_Oh, stop being a drama queen, _Yoruichi Shihouin popped in, contritely eloquent as usual.

The time for games had ended. Overtime as well.

The three bemused spectators shared a mental nod of the head.

_It's time for a confrontation._

* * *

**So, this is the pace the updates will be coming from here on out, unfortunately.**

**I wish I could write faster. I really do.**

**But what with college prep and all, the time I can dedicate to writing has been cut down even more.**

**But a promise is a promise. **

**I will see this story to the end. I swear.**

**A general round of thanks to everyone who's sticking with the story for so long.**

**Cheers.**


	9. Acquaintance

**Dogs shall remain dogs.**

**Bow down to your master.**

**Said no one ever.**

**Just freaking read the story already...**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH.**

* * *

_It was all part of the plan._

_The demolished Soukyoku was fading fast. Everything was in disarray._

_The container lay open in front of him, and the object of his desires lay within._

_Kurosaki Ichigo could only stare on as Uzumaki Naruto extracted the Hogyoku with a face as expressionless as still water._

_As the three of them were enveloped by the Negacion, he observed the foolish child as he rose above them._

_"Farewell, Kurosaki Ichigo," he spoke, at long last._

_"May our paths cross again."_

* * *

_**'I had no intention of deceiving anyone. It's just that none of you could understand...My true self.'**_

_**-Aizen Sosuke**_

* * *

The funeral procession happened without incident.

_A completely worthless ritual, this..._

As Uchiha Sasuke watched on, he let a massive yawn slip. It had been almost three days since he last slept properly. His mother glared at him, her displeasure made obvious by the disapproving frown on her face. It wasn't his fault that he was tired and close to passing out. Even now, the insanely persistent voice was still calling him, urging him to come hither like some sort of extreme gay gigolo. It was hard enough to tune that thing out, and he wasn't able to pay much attention to the things around him.

Clinging to his arm was the ever-present Haruno Sakura. Maybe the disapproving stare had been for this unnecessary display of affection, and not his tardiness. She had gotten a little more clingy than usual today. She was torn between holding on to her boyfriend for support, and consoling her blonde childhood friend-turned-love rival for the loss of a very important family friend.

Today, Sasuke had no time for her crap. He had begun to see less of her ever since the _Genin _teams were split, but that just meant that she got progressively more possessive and controlling in the little time they got off together. It had been barely tolerable before, but her wide forehead was becoming more and more obvious by the minute, and just as aggravating.

_Don't do this, _he mused. Losing another girlfriend to his sudden whims and fits would not bode well for the Uchiha genius. Especially after what happened with Ino-_chan_. Sasuke was sure he didn't have a Sakura-esque backup in case this one failed.

The ceremonies were over. As the final goodbyes were said, Sasuke walked off, bored out of his mind. The pink-haired deadweight on his left arm didn't even feel real at this point; his entire body was numb with fatigue. Those last dozen sessions had left him stripped of enthusiasm. The world seemed monochrome, and devoid of intrigue.

For no matter how much he pushed himself, he could only achieve what Naruto had done with a calm, clear mind. Even the almost fluorescent color of his girlfriend's hair seemed rather bleak this day. The villagers attending the funeral did not mind his behaviour; he actually was the only one there who looked as if someone had died.

As he turned onto the main village boulevard, Sakura in tow, he heard a very minute, plaintive voice behind him. Turning, he saw Hyuuga Hinata looking back at him, a spectre of worry in her lavender eyes. _Oh, what in God's name does she want now?_

"Sasuke-_kun_," It seemed like her speech defects were reserved only for the blonde moron. Although the three were in the same team, they rarely hung out together as a group very often, or at all, in fact. Sasuke and Naruto couldn't be kept in the same place without a heated, one-sided argument erupting between them. It usually culminated in Naruto simply ignoring the Uchiha's rants and calmly sitting there, with that fake smile plastered onto his face, silver necklace glinting in whatever light there was available.

"If you do not mind," Hinata continued, "could we have a word in private?" The tinge of red on her cheeks gave away the topic of the upcoming _private word _to both the prodigy and his pink-haired lover, although their interpretations were far different from each other's.

_I do NOT want to discuss that retard's problems one more time. Sorry, Hinata-san, but I'm not giving any more fucks about this._

_Wait. Asking my boyfriend for a private conversation in my presence? Just how bold has this bitch gotten?_

"Oh no you can't!" both of them replied simultaneously, then looked at each other, pleasantly surprised at this sudden consensus. Oh, but the heiress wasn't done trying. Sasuke knew what was coming. No one could resist her puppy-eye face when she chose to use it. And the couple was no exception. Three seconds of soulful staring later, Sakura shook her head, muttering _'It must be about Naruto...' _under her breath, and let go of Sasuke's arm.

"I'll see you later then, Sasuke-_kun..._" she said, before ambling haughtily away. The two _Genins _watched her leave, expressions of relief clear on their faces. Sasuke turned back to the Hyuuga, the obvious question visible in his stare.

"It's about the murder," Hinata said slowly, looking around for eavesdroppers. She didn't have to worry. The road was empty. Sasuke's ears pricked right up. This was interesting. Finally, she wasn't whining about her failed love life.

"I went there to Shikamaru-_kun's _place a few hours after the incident," Hinata's face was earnest, a mixture of excitement and worry. "I searched for _chakra _residue in the garden with my _Byakugan. _I managed to see a faint trace of a foreign _chakra_ which-"

_"_Whoa _lady! _Give me a second."

Sasuke could not deny now that the heiress had his full-fledged attention. "So...you..._you _went to the Nara compound, at night, sneaked around _past _the security to check out traces of chakra, all in order to investigate a murder."

Hinata nodded, not catching onto his surprise.

_Fuck me in the ass, what is the world coming to?_

Sasuke was intrigued. "Did you recognize the traits of the _chakra? _Anyone we know?" He contained himself. The poor girl wasn't very forthcoming to begin with, and his interruptions weren't helping.

"I could not place it, but I had seen this _chakra _somewhere before..." Hinata hesitated. "It was a few days back, I think, when I was following..." she blushed and stopped talking.

_Following whom? Spill it, lady! _Sasuke was nearing the end of his tether. It was already pretty frayed, and if this Hyuuga woman toyed with it any more, his head was going to explode. "Whom were you following?"

_Please let it be who I think it is... _

"N-n-n-Naruto-_kun..._" she stuttered.

Sasuke's eyes shone with a renewed vigour.

"It is strange that no one else in the village seems to know about this," Hinata continued, but the Uchiha had already stopped paying attention. The evidence was circumstantial at best, and there was no way to confirm that it was, in fact, Naruto's _chakra. _Hinata noticed the malicious glint in Sasuke's eyes.

"It wasn't Naruto-_kun_'s _chakra_!" she said, enunciating his name clearly this time. All of a sudden, Sasuke was drawn back from his land of magical revenge fantasies, back to reality. He looked the heiress directly in the eye. She didn't look like she was lying. Also, Hinata would not have approached Sasuke if the killer had been the blonde. She would have confronted Naruto herself, like a useless dope-retarded moron, and gotten herself brutally murdered as well.

"So you say," Sasuke wasn't completely convinced, but he chose to believe her, for the moment. "Do you want to investigate this further?" he added. Hinata nodded her agreement. Somehow, the thought of partnering with this hesitant, yet resolute girl didn't seem repulsive any more. He almost relished the opportunity to be away from Sakura for a little while.

"Well, let's discuss this when my girlfriend isn't glaring daggers at me from behind _that _corner over there..." Sasuke finished this little encounter, turning away and walking towards Sakura's hiding spot with slow, measured steps. _Just you wait, you faggot. I will get you screwed over so badly in this, you shall rue the day you dared to blow that kiss at me._

He glanced back at the Hyuuga, who seemed disoriented again now that her purpose had been fulfilled. _I have sincerely no idea how this chick will head the Hyuuga clan during her time... Anyways, this little recon mission with her might not even be boring._

_Not that I even like this damaged broad as a girl anyway... _He consoled his ego, _She's like a lost cat, desperate to be looked after._

_I smell it. Ah...I can feel it, Uzumaki! I'll take you down, and your own little girlfriend will help me do it._

* * *

The leaves rustled loudly.

A strong wind had begun to blow, a wind that had signalled great beginnings and endings in the past.

This was no ordinary squall. It was an omen, a foretelling of great renown. For this wind had no source; it began as abruptly as it ended.

It was almost like it had a will of its own, choosing to appear only before those it deemed worthy.

The two people enjoying it had done absolutely nothing to deserve a heralding as grand as this; they hadn't even lived long enough yet. And still, the majestic breeze blew across their faces, caressing their hair, playing with their clothing.

Perhaps it was due to the _other _entities present there that had caused it to happen; perhaps not.

Hatake Kakashi adjusted his mask, drawing it over the bridge of his nose. His face was impassive, despite the smile on his companion's face. The wind was tousling Uzumaki Naruto's hair quite a lot more than Kakashi's gray mop. The _Jinchuuriki _had on his standard smile, insincerity dripping from every pore. Their gazes were locked on, as subtext flew in a continuous stream between the two.

"It's a pleasure, like always..." the blonde broke the silence, choosing an arbitrary exit to the silent staring and mental conversation. There was no need, really, or such an unnecessary sentence, but speaking first meant that Naruto had subtly challenged Kakashi to reply. They both knew why they were here, without a doubt.

Naruto had gone silent again, and the stalemate continued. Something had to change, else what was the point of this carefully planned, cliché encounter? The breeze still rushed past their faces with an unparalleled enthusiasm; it was like it hadn't finished what it had been created to do.

Again, the blonde acted first. It wasn't very noticeable, but he changed his smile, just a fraction. The overall effect it had on his expression was tremendous. It now looked innocent as a baby, so pure and warm.

_He could probably rattle off any of the cheesy, perverted pick-up lines from Icha Icha, and totally get away with it. That face is just too darn OP._

_'Yoru-icchi-saaan?' _Kisuke chimed in. Hearing that_ infernal_ tone of voice, the _Jonin _groaned internally. Something extremely lame was going to be said, and he was simply _not _in the mood to receive it well right now.

_'Did you know? Like my zanpakuto, I too, release twice...'_

And with that, the wind disappeared, to probably never return again. The dramatic tension of the scene was broken, like a balloon being popped.

Exiting his prolonged facepalm, Kakashi resumed his pointless staring match with the blonde. To Naruto's credit, his smile hadn't wavered one bit. It still stretched the entire width of his face, almost splitting his face in two.

Slowly, reluctantly, the intensity returned, like a cat approaching a saucer of hot milk it had just gotten burned on.

"I believe we appear to have reached an impasse," Kakashi scratched his forehead. Just because something had to be said did not make it any less awkward to say. This relentless cliché-dropping was beginning to bore the three others in the conversation. They were definitely alone in the forest, and for some reason, they weren't.

"I suppose so, Kakashi-_san,_" the blonde replied in an emotionless voice. "What now remains is to discuss what can be done here to resolve this rather unfortunate difference in opinion that we seem to have..." the last part was clearly aimed at the two figures slowly materializing behind the _Jonin._

The woman who'd just taken shape was stunningly beautiful. Kakashi himself did a complete double take upon seeing her, not having witnessed her human form until this very day. Clad scantily, it almost seemed like someone was playing a cruel transformation trick on his eyes, a cruel one indeed. Although the sudden..._enthusiasm _had died once he saw the sight next to her.

It was a very famous saying that _Kami-sama _made all people beautiful. It definitely wasn't true in Urahara's case. The actual cruelty of a deity, if such a thing existed, was seen manifested in its full glory in the ugliness of the green-clad retard standing next to Yoruichi. Wearing an obviously out-of-style green hat, he seemed to exude this air of clumsiness and uncertainty that even Maito Guy couldn't top.

_No surprises there, _Kakashi mused. _I guess personalities do match appearances after all._

"Kakashi-_san_?" Naruto's smooth, gentle voice prodded him. The _Jonin _whipped his head back, returning to their confrontation. It seemed as though the two behind him were visible him only, and the blonde didn't perceive their existence. Chuckling a little to hide his embarrassment, he made a gesture with his hand, pointing in the approximate direction of the village behind him.

"I really do not care what your motives are. Seriously." He glanced right into Naruto's eyes, searching for some emotion, any emotion at all. "The population of the village is your playground, so amuse yourself as you see fit."

Naruto's right eyebrow rose quizzically. "Whatever do you mean by that, Kakashi-_san_?" the smile suddenly gained a dangerous edge to it, a sense of something being held back, bridled by the fake composure on the _Jinchuuriki's _face. Kakashi stifled a gulp. This was going to get very messy if he didn't handle the next few minutes with extreme care.

"I mean, your antics with Sasuke-_kun _have become the talk of the village lately," he hastily corrected the direction of the conversation. "I mean, for you two to become lovers in such a small timeframe is nothing short of fateful..." he finished, quite awkwardly. His words had slipped out of his mouth without thought, and Kakashi regretted his lack of self-control in such occasions. The same thing had happened the other day with Kurenai-_san, _where an offhand comment about her pregnancy and something related to being _chubby _had set off an explosion.

_She's quite the feisty one. I can see why Asuma would want to hit that._

Returning to the present, Kakashi noticed that the murderous glint had again left the thirteen-year-old's eyes. "I see." he began, voice still collected and neutral. "Could you remind me as to what the purpose of this meeting is?" With a single line, he had brought it back to the uncomfortable zone again. Kakashi himself had begun to wonder as to why he had come here in the first place, why he had sought out a confrontation such as this so early in the game.

_We're simply testing the waters, remember? _Yoruichi chimed in. _To see what the circumstances actually are._

_Anyway, you'd better find a way to retreat, and fast. _Kisuke sounded urgent. _The longer it takes after this, the worse it gets for us._

"I wanted to congratulate you," Kakashi was very good at thinking quickly. "For becoming a _Genin, _and for receiving your first mission."

The questioning stare was back. "I fail to see why you are the bearer of such news, and not my _Genin _team leader or my teammates," Naruto voiced the flaws in that shamble of an excuse, demolishing it in the span of seconds.

"Itachi is busy with work, I'm afraid," the _Jonin _was trained to feel nothing as he lied through his teeth. "And therefore, the responsibility fell upon me to tell everyone in the team, including Sasuke-_kun _and Hinata-_san."_

_This is probably the most see-through bluff I've ever made. And that includes that time when I told Hokage-sama I got lost on the road of life when I was late for a meeting..._

Somehow, the blonde seemed to believe him. He saw it in the imperceptible change in his expression, like a sudden softening of the lines of his face.

"I thank you for you congratulations and your kind consideration towards Itachi_-sensei. _Perhaps we can have dinner together sometime? You could treat me to a little _ramen, _maybe?" Kakashi nodded hesitantly, accepting the offer.

"Very well then. We shall bid adieu here and now." turning, the blonde _Jinchuuriki _made his exit.

The _Jonin _held his position for a minute and a half, before taking a quiet breath. _So, that was more than a little unsettling..._

_Ya' think? _Yoruichi was all up in his ass. _It's waay too early to come out guns ablaze like you did. Sheesh. You men and your retarded minds._

Kakashi didn't even listen to that last part. _Icha Icha Paradaisu _had mentioned such women in it's gospel text as well.

_"Beware of the so-called 'bitch'. For these women shall cause your eventual downfall..." _Some side character had ranted thus at the hero once, if he wasn't mistaken.

_You surely aren't, Kakashi-saaan... _Urahara's drawl was back too.

Kakashi felt like taking a _kunai _in the forehead right now.

_At least then it'll be my doing..._

_Undoing, rather._

* * *

The rest of the forest seemed desolate as well. It was like the wildlife had sensed the imminent danger and chosen to save themselves. Ambling along without a care in the world, Uzumaki Naruto stepped on the buttress root of the largest banyan he'd ever seen. He marvelled at the intricate yet extensive system the tree had used in order to ensure the continuation of it's existence.

_Everything has fallen into this spiral precisely because of these bindings._

_These roots shall remain no more. Everything shall topple and fall, succumbing to the eventual chaos it was meant to descend into eventually._

_It couldn't hurt to reach that tipping point an instant earlier than usual, couldn't it?_

The handsome man had materialized again. Dressed in a simple _kimono _and _haori _arrangement that gave him the regal grace of an emperor, Aizen Sousuke lay down comfortably against the trunk of the large banyan, arms folded behind his head.

"Quite the intriguing conversation you had there, Naruto-_kun,_" the messy brown hair fluttered in the wind.

"I agree. Kakashi-_san _had some fine points to make..." the blonde _Jinchuuriki _raised his hand to his face. Slowly extending his tongue out of his mouth, he licked the silver ring he wore on his middle finger tentatively, and smiled.

"You may exit your hiding spot now, Itachi-_sensei..._" surely enough, the Uchiha legend stepped out of the underbrush.

Cerulean eyes met jet black.

_"Terminate?" _the word was said in an undertone, almost a whisper.

The blonde boy shook his head. "Let him be for now. He too, shall prove to be useful in his own little way..."

Gazing at the silently chuckling man lazing on the mossy forest floor, he sighed audibly.

"For now, let's just focus on doing what we're supposed to. Our _Genin _team hasn't had any missions yet, correct?"

"Yes, Naruto-_kun," _Itachi replied, face as empty of emotion as ever.

"So I suggest we perform some of them..." Naruto wasn't even looking at anything in particular. No, his gaze ha already begun spanning into the near future, devising these new, interesting variables into his grand scheme of things.

* * *

"Two at the entrance, two at the back gate, three on either side. The compound is square, Sasuke-kun."

"That's a bitch. Too bad security wasn't this tight before the Nara kicked the bucket."

"_Sasuke-kun!_"

The Hyuuga looked at him reproachfully at his highly disrespectful referral to the victim, Nara Shikaku. "What? So you suddenly care about people _after_ they're dead? You can't talk shit about them _after_ they're gone? What about before? Didn't hear you saying Nara-_sama_ this, and Nara-_sama_ that..."

Hinata chose to remain quiet. The logic was terribly flawed, but there was a bitter truth behind it. The only time they ended up truly caring about people was after they were dead, sometimes not even then.

Night had fallen. The stifled sounds of the two _Genin_ were masked well by the ambient sounds around the Nara compound. There was a palpable tension in the air. Getting caught, after all, would mean a whole lot of unwarranted trouble, especially so for the young Uchiha and heiress of the Hyuuga clan.

"You used the _Byakugan_ just now, right?" Sasuke wanted to ease the tension. They had to wait a while. Security was progressively getting lax. There was a window where the shift of the current guards would end, and a new set would replace them. This window ensured easy entry into the compound.

"Yes."

She was looking away, towards the moon. Sasuke stole a glance at her. _She's thinking about him_. He could tell. _Are you? Could you be the one? _He wanted it to be. It was a perverse desire, but he wanted to see Uzumaki Naruto blamed, punished. A fleeting feeling of guilt. _I'm using this girl..._

Yet she seemed to know, why he had joined her that night. And interestingly, she seemed to want to find out too.

"Three minutes."

Sasuke looked at her again, contemplating just how different Hyuuga Hinata was now, as compared to her stuttering, blushing self in front of Naruto. _You've ruined her._

"Now."

They both moved simultaneously, a rare sureness in their steps. Sure enough, the guards who had finished their shift had walked away, and the next shift was nowhere to be seen. _"This way," _he heard the girl whisper, as he followed. The moon was behind the clouds, ideal for the sneaking the two _Genin_ were doing.

"Stop, Sasuke-_kun_. Here, this is where..."

"You felt the _chakra_?" Sasuke dropped his guard, and let his eyes wander. They were at the entrance of the room. He didn't want to enter, and he was sure Hinata didn't want to either. He turned when he heard her whisper. Even under the weak lighting, he could make out that her Byakugan was in use. She didn't move, her body relaxed yet unnaturally still. _The Byakugan of Clan Hyuuga. Not much can boast of staying hidden under it's gaze..._

"It's there...it's still there, a faint trace of it, much lesser than last time."

He didn't say anything. Instead, he closed his eyes.

_Just ambient sound. Trees, wind..._

He opened them, _Sharingan_ blazing this time. It was always a powerful sensation, the rush, and when it died down, he could feel the Hyuuga's hair move, he could feel her hand twitch, even though it was just minimal, he could feel-

"_There. Something, there!"_

He pointed. Hinata moved in the direction, confused. Her _Byakugan_ did not seem to have given her any feedback on this. She reached downward, her hands scrabbling across the wooden floor, until they touched something...something cold, metallic-

"There's nothing here, Sasuke-_kun_. Are you sure?"

"Huh?"

He refocused himself, and mysteriously, it was gone. It _had_ in the first place been just a faint, faint trace, he couldn't even tell if it was _chakra_, but something...something...

"Right. Sorry there. Just...just a little jumpy."

"That's fine, Sasuke-ku-"

They had both let their guards down. Hinata had dispelled her _Byakugan_, and Sasuke was about to drop his respective _Kekkei Genkai_ too, when it happened. A single step, and then, he landed at the entrance.

"What's going on here? Who're you?"

_Fuckin' shit-sandwich, guards._

They acted with hitherto unseen efficiency, the Hyuuga moved out of the way, and his eyes met the guard's. Just for a fraction of a second, the guard's lips widened in surprise, but all he could see was the _Sharingan_. He hadn't seen anything else, he hadn't seen the intruder's form, shape...nothing...and then, all was black.

All was black...all was..._black_...all was _blaaaaa-_

_"You dare step into the Nara's household, common guard?"_

The guard couldn't see anything, but he knew he had to get the hell out of there real quick.

_"It is I, Nara Shikaku!"_

Now terror coated the guard's veins, he flailed, doing anything to get away from the source of the sound. "I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry, sir, I promise I'll never set foot in this house again, I'll never, I'll nev-"

"_You have displeeeaseed mee!"_

"AAAH, HEELPP!"

The man stood, not caring what was happening, bumped twice into the wall, found the entrance on the third try, and was out of earshot within five seconds, off to tell everyone about Nara Shikaku's ghost.

Meanwhile, a certain Hyuuga and Uchiha were running, from what they couldn't say, but they were simply running, for they had almost..._almost_ gotten into a metric fuck-ton of trouble. It was a long time before they stopped, panting, a good distance away from the Nara compound.

_"What...What- What"_

_"Genjutsu_...Hinata, I used _Genjutsu_ on-"

_"Sasuke-kun!"_

"I know! What was I to do. We would've gotten caught-"

"You...he thought there was a...a ghost?"

Sasuke nodded, finally recovering. "Yeah. Thought it was appropriate, you know. He was in the Nara household, and he _could_ get haunted by the dead..."

He looked at her, certain of that she was going to throw his way for doing something that risky. A _Genjutsu_, on the guard who was protecting the household, after all. What Sasuke did _not _expect, however, was for the Hyuuga to start laughing.

She giggled, before bursting out into full-blown laughter, which ended up making him laugh too. They both sank to the ground, still laughing at what they had just done, the fact that they'd escaped certain harsh punishment by fooling a guard into thinking he was seeing a Nara ghost.

When Sasuke finally recovered, massaging his sides, he seemed to look at her clearly for the first time that night. "Hey, Hyuuga!"

"What, Sasuke-kun?"

"You're alright, you know, when you're not fawning over your _N-N-Naruto-k-k_"-

She got up too, aiming a punch at him playfully. "Thank you, Sasuke-_kun_. Um...You too..."

"Well, see you tomorrow then...and,"

He looked towards her, a defeated expression on his face, "There's one thing. It couldn't...it couldn't have been him. Being _there_, at the place, convinced me of that. He couldn't...he couldn't have killed Nara Shikaku."

"Thank you."

Sasuke took a step towards the left, in the general direction of the Uchiha enclosure.

"Sure. Tomorrow, then."

* * *

_You always wanted control, Aizen-san...and you got it. You never killed without necessity._

_And yet, here I am, holding the anthill in my hand, but unable to track the movements of the ants._

"Thank you, Sasuke-_kun_. Um...You too..."

"-It couldn't...it couldn't have been him...-"

He smiled from his vantage point as he watched the Hyuuga and Uchiha part ways. Sasuke Uchiha was a genius, but at times, he seemed to prove remiss. For example, Uzumaki Naruto was the only one that night to catch a glimpse of the glint that his necklace produced against the moonlight as it hung around Hyuuga Hinata's neck.

_Although, I cannot say I am displeased with this course of events._

_Cannot say that at all._

* * *

**End.**


	10. Mission

**Did you know there's a five percent chance that you'll read this and die immediately?**

**No shit. It's drop dead gorgeous.**

***Bad pun detected***

* * *

**DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH.**

** WHERE WOULD SHONEN JUMP BE WITHOUT THEM, I WONDER.**

**_MEH_. GINTAMA IS ENOUGH TO SELL IT FOREVER.**

* * *

_The lieutenant was stunned._

_"Y-y-you're alive?"_

_Uzumaki Naruto could sense her relief as she hugged him with the ferocity of a bear._

_This was the perfect opportunity to hit that infernal child where it hurt._

_He ran a hand through her brown hair, feeling the soft skull underneath._

_This was a moment of joyous reunion for the bereaved child._

_It was really a pity that it had to end now._

_His zanpakuto descended rapidly towards Hinamori-chan's heart._

* * *

_**'Any betrayal you can see is trivial. What is truly frightening and much more lethal, is the betrayal you cannot see.'**_

**_-Aizen Sousuke_**

* * *

"A MISSION?"

Uchiha Itachi remained impassive as his younger brother voiced his surprise quite loudly. Silencing him with a withering look, he continued.

"Under the _Hokage-sama's _directive, we are to escort a particular person to the Land of the Waves."

Sasuke and Hinata's ears pricked up at the sound of that. Going out of the dark, confusing atmosphere of the village was a very exciting prospect. They had been dying for a chance such as this in the last week or so. And that chance had presented itself.

"Due to the rather _special _conditions regarding the strength of this team," Itachi went on, eyes drilling holes into the two _Genins. _"we have been given a C-Rank mission right out the bat. I suggest you spend less time fawning over the details, and go back and prepare for the ordeal."

"Chill the fuck out, _Nii-san,_" an admonition from his brother wasn't going to bring his spirits down. Itachi's eyes had widened at that expletive, but he had said nothing. _I don't think he has the right to say a damn thing anyway, considering how he's treated me over the last few months._

"Now, now, Sasuke-_kun," _Itachi, for all his composure, did a splendid triple-take. Hinata hadn't stammered even one word of that last phrase. "I don't think you should be talking to your older brother that way. Apologize immediately."

Sasuke actually looked abashed. This was crazy. _How in Heaven's name is she doing this? _Itachi's mind reeled with shock. "I'm sorry, _Nii-san..._" the younger Uchiha prodigy said, although begrudgingly. Itachi nodded, tight-lipped. This was not the time to show surprise at Sasuke's sudden maturity.

"Oh ho..." _Oh, seven hells, _the ex-ANBU _Jonin _groaned internally. Naruto had the tendency to step in at the worst times.

"I spy, with my very eye, a little, meek Sasuke-_chan,_ who is going to _cry_,"he said in a sing-song voice that inflamed Sasuke with the intensity of a _Katon; Ryuusenka._

"Oh, you bloody faggot," his face was crimson for a different reason now. "I'm going to tear you a new one large enough to fit..."

"STOP IT!" Hinata's high-pitched scream rang out in the main courtyard outside the HQ. "Naruto-_kun, _now you apologize to Sasuke-_kun IMMEDIATELY, _or else..."

Itachi was suddenly interested. _Or else, huh?_

There it was again. The dangerous glint was back. Naruto seemed right on the edge of a precipice, one he was ready to fall off of in a split second. He took a step forward, menace coming out of every pore on his skin. The silence seemed heavy and unnatural, almost crushing.

_"Or else what, Hinata-chan?" _

The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, like a passing gust of wind had brought it from a distant source, only incidentally falling on the ears of the blonde _Jinchuuriki. _Hinata still stared, a little hesitantly. She had not heard that voice, it seemed. He started. With an almost visible effort of will, he calmed himself. Closing his eyes, he bowed.

"I apologize for my earlier comment, Sasuke," he said, without a hint of emotion in his voice. His face was serene again, and his anger seemed to have passed. As he opened his eyelids, his irises shone with a new-found determination. "Let us start the mission, shall we? Our assignment has arrived, it would seem."

The three turned. An wrinkled old geezer faced them, back hunched over with age. He wore a massive backpack that showed that he still had strength left in his body; that his physical faculties hadn't left him. He had on a pointed hat that reminded Itachi of a weirdly-shaped onion. His grey French-cut beard lent him the semblance of grace, the last remnants of his youthful visage.

He took a towel off his shoulders and mopped his face with it, unsuccessfully so. He still looked like he'd run a mile and a half in a minute.

"Greetings," he started. His voice had a grating edge to it that annoyed the Uchiha _Jonin _a little. He seemed a little inebriated, and a little ill at ease, but his drunkenness wasn't the cause for it. Perhaps he had seen the previous encounter between Naruto and Sasuke, and perhaps he was concealing something that would come to light later. Itachi moved forward to shake his hand.

"My name is Tazuna. I believe you are the team who shall be escorting me?" he had a very infirm grip, and he seemed distracted. _He kind of looks like Hokage-sama..._

"Uchiha Itachi. I shall be your chief contact, and these three here will assist me in assuring your safety," he looked back, turning to introduce the _Genins. _They all stepped up to shake the old man's hand.

"I believe your assignment is to escort me until my village, in the Land of the Waves, and then protect my life with your own until I finish constructing the bridge, yes? Shall we get going, then?" the _Jonin _nodded, pointing towards the gate. As they exited the village, they arranged themselves into a protective circle around Tazuna, ready to ward off any mishaps.

Itachi had a bad feeling about this mission. Somehow, with the old man not being as forthcoming as he should have been, and with both Sasuke and Naruto in close proximity, he felt this was all about to go down in flames. It just needed a spark.

The very edges of his lips curled into a smile, imperceptible to all except those who were specifically looking for it.

_A spark I am totally willing to provide._

* * *

_Finally, you show yourself, Naruto._

Sarutobi Hiruzen gazed intently into his crystal ball. The distorted images of the five leaving the village showed quite clearly inside the glass exterior. He had seen the entire exchange between them, watched as Naruto shed the layers of courtesy and blandness that he had blanketed himself with for the first time in years, showing that he was capable of emotion.

And yet, despite a part of him being pleased that he had finally done so, the _Sandaime _wished that it hadn't happened. Somehow, in a twisted way, Naruto still being shielded had given him hope that something good lay underneath those strata. That once he _actually _showed who he was, the people would learn to recognize and accept him for the hero that he was.

But he had dreaded the other result with just as much intensity. That Naruto had become a soulless cavern, a mere endless container for all the hatred thrown at him. Sarutobi had feared that the individual inside all that politeness had become corrupted, a mere puppet for the villagers to play with.

What he saw in his crystal ball was completely different. For all the possibilities, Hiruzen had not considered this option. The fact that Naruto on the inside was merely... _Naruto. _The wilful child he had seen for an instant when Hinata had provoked him was like the Naruto of old, immature, juvenile and simple-minded. He was the child Hiruzen had been holding his breath to see; the exact sort of legacy Namikaze Minato would have wanted to leave to the village he loved.

Somehow, the _Hokage _was not convinced. It all seemed too perfect, like the last three years of change and withdrawal were merely to be ignored. It felt like the thirteen-year-old blonde was showing him this side on purpose. Maybe it was all part of a major scheme, which was all held together by Hiruzen's assumption that the _Jinchuuriki _hadn't changed.

_Seven hells, what am I thinking? _The _Sandaime _chastised himself for being an over-thinking fool. Not that Naruto wasn't acting weirdly, but to suspect even his usual character of being a charade? This had gone too far. In his concern for the Uzumaki, the old man had forgotten himself.

He lay back on his chair, massaging his temples gently. He recalled the day this all started, the one time his pupil asked him for a favor. The greatest favor of all. The promise he had made to Minato still held, but Hiruzen wasn't sure how much longer he could keep the teen out of trouble.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he said, grateful for the distraction. It would help if he stopped obsessing over the blonde _Jinchuuriki _for a while. The messenger entered, visibly nervous. Hiruzen looked over at the wall clock. He had been expecting news of the investigation into Nara Shikaku's death right about now.

"_Sandaime-sama," _he began, "As you requested, we kept a very proper vigil over the Nara property and the house grounds for the last forty-eight hours. We had a break-in, unfortunately."

"What happened? Did you get any information on the intruders?" Perhaps the ones who came in were the murderers, having forgotten valuable evidence that his team might have missed.

"We do not have any faces, _Sandaime-sama," _the man had the grace to look apologetic. _He'd better. These worthless people might have cost us dearly. _

"But we did notice one thing, as they were leaving."

Everything hinged on this. Even the messenger hesitated, as if the piece of news would be game-changing.

"We saw the intruder's eyes."

The _Sandaime's _heart sank. _Not that, not that, not that... NOT THAT!_

"One of them had a _Sharingan," _the man finished, confirming the old man's worst fears.

_Oh, this just cannot be happening right now... _"Very well. Anything else?" the messenger bowed deeply, and declined. "You may leave."

As soon as the man was out of the room, Hiruzen threw his head into his palms. This was the final straw. Tensions against the _Dojustu-_wielding clan were insanely high already, with almost-confirmed rumors of a coup d'etat in the offing. Nobody trusted them, and there were sparks between them and the rest of the villagers, sometimes out in the open.

Their 'adoption' of Uzumaki Naruto had only served to heighten the fears of everyone else that something evil was imminent. And now, that they were clearly connected to the murder of someone extremely important to the village's security, the evidence, although extremely circumstantial, would bring the crisis to a head, resulting in only one outcome.

A civil war was inevitable, and there was only one way to stop it.

_This means... This means that I shall have to._

_I shall have to give that man a chance to prove the rumors right._

_Danzo, thy means have been served._

Even as he thought it, his old friend had appeared. Standing silently on the windowsill, his clothes remained still despite the breeze. He seemed ominous, the very vision of death incarnate.

"Well, well, Hiruzen," he spoke, the grunting voice of an aged man suiting the wrinkled face.

"I believe it is time."

The _Sandaime _did not even lift his head. He had failed again, as the leader of the village, to provide for everyone in it.

And now, he had been forced to let the fate of an entire clan rest on the hands of someone who least prioritized their welfare.

_I wish this eternity of poor decisions comes to an end._

_'Death is lighter than a feather; duty as heavy as a mountain,'_

_I wish I were dead._

* * *

The irascible geezer, along with his _shinobi _escort, had reached the Country of the waves.

Like a giant sea-creature, the unfinished bridge loomed over them, still towering in its size, imposing by design. It symbolized the village's incomplete struggle against the pain and oppression they were going through.

During their journey, Tazuna-_san _had briefed them about the parameters of the mission. The bridge being built to save the people, Gatou-something, a businessman with hostile tendencies and a propensity for stupid actions, blah blah blah.

The _Genins _couldn't care less. Sasuke was boredly scratching his nose, trying to drown out the damn noise by simply not paying attention. Hinata was at least _pretending _to be interested, but even she couldn't stifle all her yawns. It was hard to give fucks about some place they were never going to freaking visit again, much less care about the economic status about some tiny, insignificant country.

But it was a mission, and they were getting paid for it. So unwillingly or not, they had to stick it out.

Hinata was awoken out of her daze by Naruto poking her with his elbow. "_Ne, _Hinata-_chan," _he whispered, "Don't you think he simply cannot stop babbling about his country?" she nodded quietly, trying not to laugh. It wasn't what was said, but the sarcastic callousness with which the blonde said it that made it humorous.

"Whatever, man," the Uchiha chimed in. "It's not like we're listening to that shit anyway." Hinata hesitated at the phrasing, but nodded her approval.

"I'm sorry," Naruto replied, seemingly to no one in particular. "Why are you _so _desperately trying to fit in, Sasuke-_kun?_" Again with the relentless torture. It was like there was no winning with Naruto, as far as Sasuke was concerned.

His face blood-red, Sasuke opened his mouth to attempt to retaliate, and closed it again, too angry for words. With a snort, he looked away, pouty lips visible even from that angle.

Uchiha Itachi walked in front, ignoring the childish squabbles that ensued behind his back. To him, he was escorting the old man _alone._

Sasuke, though, needed someone to ease his pain. "_Nii-san,_" he said in a whiny, nasal tone that reminded Itachi of the old days. "When will we get to this little shitty village anyway? Oh chill them tits, geezer, no one's talking to you," he said, brushing away Tazuna's protests.

Hinata had tried to speak as well, but he had shushed her with a fierce glance that said _Not now, woman, _better than any spoken words could.

"We'll get there when we get there, Sasuke. Now keep quiet," Itachi replied. He didn't have time for these juvenile squabbles. He had his own things to worry about.

For all his years in the ANBU, the Uchiha genius was the sole point of contact between the Hokage and his clan, the only 'reliable' double agent. Every other one had been found out and put to death mercilessly. Even after leaving the dry and dull work of an assassin behind, the _Sandaime _still depended on him for information, or so he thought. The fact that he was sent out on a mission that would take a couple of weeks minimum, a month could easily pass before he was back in the midst of things, keeping his restless clan at bay.

Plus, there was the thing Shisui had mentioned about Naruto that still unsettled him a little. _Beware of his true intentions, for he shall end up betraying you and the entire village, and probably kill you to boot, _the now-dead man had said.

How exactly Shisui had chanced upon this information, Itachi did not know, but it did not matter any more. He was silenced forever, the one person who knew more than he should, who deduced things unnecessarily, was gone.

Also, he had questioned and debated the thing with Nara Shikaku too, all in his head. It seemed too sudden a move, a quick step to the offensive. In _Shogi, _such a drastic manoeuvre would be considered very aggressive, and would usually indicate a last ditch attempt to salvage a victory when the tiles were stacked against you.

There had been no need for a such a move so early, when most of the players hadn't even revealed themselves.

_What are your true intentions, Naruto-kun? _he often mused, trying to guess just one thing.

Evil or good. The debate on whether the blonde _Jinchuuriki _was the saviour of the village, whether his actions would really take them out of the saddened state they were in, was still undecided.

As for now, he still had a lot going in his favor, and Itachi was willing to wait and let things flow as they were.

_I shall step in as the moderator, if need be..._

There was a strange shadow floating around in the underbrush. It seemed like they were being watched, and followed. Itachi decided to sit this one out. It was probably the fastest way to get some teamwork practice between his dysfunctional _Genins._

* * *

The forest had begun to give way to more flat grassland now, and they could see the shore, a little distance away. The change in scenery was very welcome to the three bored teenagers, and they began looking around, faces brightening again now that they were out of the dumb forest. Sasuke had clearly started forgetting all the bashing Naruto had heaped upon him, and was beginning to get into a stride, feeling confident about himself.

_This is just too perfect. It's probably a nice reminder never to let your guard down... _

The three concealed _shinobi _attacked. Deftly dodging the first _Chuunin's _attack, Itachi let him pass on, as their target clearly wasn't him or any of the other Konoha ninja. Spiraling in quickly onto the three _Genins _defending the old man, one of them brandished his signature weapon. It was a splendid set of retractable claws, meant to pierce and cut through muscle and sinew alike.

Sasuke smiled. Then noticed Naruto smiling as well. _What'chu smilin' for, bitch? I'll take them down before your mamma has time to cradle your crying face. _

That sounded lame even in his head, so he promptly decided to change it to some less embarrassing trash talk after he was...

Hinata stepped in, Byakugan activated, creepy veins around the eyes pulsing. Hands filled with _chakra, _she deflected the sharp claw a millisecond before it cut into Sasuke's carotid artery and rendered him dead, using the characteristic defensive technique the Hyuuga were known for. Sasuke snapped back to focus, palms already forming the seals for a _Katon jutsu._ This sort of unnecessary lapses in concentration were what were going to eventually kill him. He needed to stop obsessing over Naruto, and stop it quickly.

"_Suiton; Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" _

The blonde _Jinchuuriki_ was faster with his seals, the massive water dragon erupting seemingly from nowhere. Sasuke abandoned his effort, frustrated with how Naruto had cancelled him out with one move. First, he was _first. _Also, the Water release dismissed his Fire release, stopping him from attacking as a side effect. His _Gokaku _couldn't stay lit under such wet conditions.

_That's so uncool, you nimrod. _Sasuke kept his anger in check. Hinata had subverted one attack, but she couldn't help out on the next one. She was dealing with her own guy, arms a blur as the _Hakke Rokujuyonshu _both defended his advances and closed his _tenketsu _one by one.

Sasuke took the offensive. Throwing two _kunai _strategically, he made his opponent contort his body in two places, eliminating a wide range of movements. Taking the seal off of a paper bomb, he quickly set the timing and wrapped it on another blade, throwing it where its blast radius would cover all of the guy's possible movements.

The _shinobi's _eyes widened as he realised there was no escape. The water dragon descended, Naruto exhibiting very fine control over its motion as well. Expression as dead and impassive as ever, he maintained the seal as he cornered the _Chuunin, _kneeing the dude in his privates like an angry ex-lover.

_Speaking of ex-lovers, I hope that psycho chick Ino gets off my case soon. _Gaze returning to his own opponent, who was recovering from having a bomb explode in his face, Sasuke activated his _Sharingan. _It used almost no _chakra _now, the hours of stamina training had been effective as hell.

Seeing the _chakra _flow around in his circulatory system as the dude formed the seals for some technique he didn't know, Sasuke quickly moved in, stopping his seals with a quick _kunai _to the chest, his last one. He was going to have to restock once this skirmish was done. At least his opponent wasn't a total dickbag. He dodged the _kunai, _hands still forming the seals quicker than the naked eye could follow. For Sasuke's _Sharingan, _though, it was a piece of cake keeping up with the order.

_Earth release. Got'cha. _Timing his jump well, he launched off of the ground right as it erupted, the _Doton __jutsu's _efforts dismantled by the _Sharingan. _It was truly a fearsome weapon, the _Dojutsu _of legend. Stepping precariously on a bit of upturned rock, he leaped toward his opponent, using elevation in his favour. Quickly moving his fingers and wrists, he smothered the enemy _Chuunin _with a point blank _Katon; Gokaku. _The watery mist from Naruto's _jutsu _had settled, allowing Sasuke to let the enemy feel the brunt of his rage, breathing heavily to add that extra burst of flame.

The dude fell down, trying rather hilariously to shield his face from the fire and put out his burning hair at the same time. Sasuke stepped back, still in a wary pose. He knew there was no coming back from a fireball in the face, but you never knew these days. Too much random shit had happened to him in the last few days for him not to be careful.

This time, though, his opponent seemed down for the count, clearly unconscious. Turning to his assignment, he gave Tazuna a wordless, perfunctory look-over, not really caring whether he was hurt or not. To the Uchiha, it was simply a miracle that the old man was still alive. Despite all her all-too-infrequent decent moments, Hinata was about as reliable as a fifty year old car, and sputtered as much too. With that in mind, and considering their new acquaintance and alliance forthwith, he decided to dig the unfortunate heiress out of whatever hole she'd gotten herself into, both metaphorical and physical.

He didn't put it past her to suddenly give up in the middle of fighting a _Chuunin-_class shinobi, and go bury her head in the ground, waiting for it to be lopped off like so much dead branches off a tree. However, Sasuke was mildly surprised, and deservedly so. Hinata had held her own, and was keeping the enemy's advances at bay. Sure, she lacked the offensive strength to take him down, but her defense was impressive to have held out this long.

Sasuke was prepared. As Naruto finished off his allotment, the raven-haired Uchiha launched his own, slightly undersized version of the _Suiryuudan _spiralling towards the _Chuunin. _He was ready, though, and used his reflexes to dodge the main destructive part of the move, getting splashed heavily by the after-spray.

Hinata turned suddenly to face her saviour. Her face...

_She'd probably thought little blondie was gonna save her, like some uber-cliche romance novella, but here I am, smashing your wet dreams, Hinata-cha..._

The centrifugal force of her spinning towards him let a certain object around her neck loosen itself from the confines of her turtleneck sweater, and come free.

Sasuke was stunned. The silver necklace she wore gave off its own light.

_Probably just a reflection of the sunlight... _He mused, distracted from the job at hand.

The glint seemed to intensify, and suddenly dim itself. It pulsated with a weird urgency that, for some inexplicable reason, was raising Sasuke's heart rate a few notches.

It called to him, _beckoned furiously. _

_Come here... _

_Come... to... me..._

_NO. _Sasuke didn't even consider the thought. Naruto was the sole cause of all his problems. It was some crap that he was pulling, that's all.

Hinata-_chan _had nothing to do with anything at all.

Immersed as he was in that particular train of thought, he knocked out the opponent _Chuunin _with ease, limbs moving subconsciously as his mind pondered the implications.

It was there, _right there. _On the tip of his tongue. As he reached out to feel it, make that thought more concrete and tangible...

_It's gone._

Sasuke exited his reverie, shaking his head to let the dizziness wear off. He felt exhausted, more so than after all those hours of training.

He looked over at the three fallen opponents, and suddenly came back to the present.

Someone had made an attempt on their lives. In a freaking C-Rank mission.

_What in the name of fucking heaven is going on?_

* * *

Uchiha Itachi saw the Hyuuga slowly and inconspicuously tuck the silver necklace back into her sweater. Saw Naruto watching her as well.

_It seems the seed of doubt has planted itself, without my intervention._

A small smile adorned his lips, making the lines on his face ever so prominent.

The old man they were supposed to escort, and supposedly protect from the odd highway bandit, was tense.

_He knows we're on to him. _

He walked slowly to where Tazuna stood, now a distance away from the currently arguing _Genin._

"No, you ass-face," Sasuke's dictionary of insults apparently hadn't matured along with him, it seemed. "I simply happened to be the better one here."

"Yes, Sasuke-_kun,_" the blonde _Jinchuuriki _intoned in the patronizing, sing-song voice that his raven-haired teammate seemed to dislike with a passion. "If that helps you sleep at night. Do you also want me to check for monsters underneath the bed too now?"

Hinata was physically restraining his younger brother now, stopping him from going bat crap crazy and start some infernal blood-feud vendetta with the love of her life.

The ex-ANBU _jonin _ignored his subordinates. Now was not the time to step in and act like a parent and all. In fact, it was _never_ the time for that.

His dark, deep eyes met the tired ones of the old man they were escorting.

"Tell us the truth, Tazuna-_san,_" he spoke, enunciating the words clearly. A standard ANBU interrogation method. Although he stopped speaking then, the addendum to the previous sentence hung in the air like a broadsword hanging over the old man's exposed neck.

_Don't make me make you._

Tugging the collar of his shirt, Tazuna took an audible gulp.

"Fine. You got me."

Itachi raised his hand, stopping the man midway through his obviously pre-prepared speech. He had no time for this.

"Who exactly is after you, Tazuna-_san_?"

* * *

**Yeah. That's the stuff.**

**That was the first chapter with an actual canon event happening in it, I think.**

**The story's getting a nice flow now, what with Itachi getting some valuable scenes. ****I can't help stress the fact that he has a mind of his own, unlike the drone I've made him to be until now.**

**Anyway, peeps, thanks for hangin' around all this while.**

**Do review and tell me your thoughts.**

**Cheers.**


	11. Encounter

**Surprise!**

**A new chapter's here!**

**I've kinda resigned myself to the fact that, despite my efforts, I can only write as quickly as this. **

**It depresses me that I lose my reader base every time, but what can I do?**

**Tectonic shift slowness is a trait I can't seem to get rid of.**

**Meh. Read.**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER : NARUTO AND BLEACH DO NOT OWN ME.**

* * *

_Drip._

_Drip._

_The crimson river flowed ever so slowly._

_Uzumaki Naruto observed from a distance as the staging of his death was completed._

_His facsimile was pinned to the wall, at the center of a very uncharacteristic cross of blood._

_He smiled broadly, an expression he hadn't used in months._

_Watching Hitsugaya-kun's reaction to the macabre sight was something to look forward to._

* * *

**_'We think the flower on the precipice is beautiful, because our fear makes our feet stop at its edge instead of stepping forward into the sky, like that flower.'_**

**_-Aizen Sosuke_**

* * *

"Umm..."

The old man cleared his throat loudly.

_Fucking retard's gotta be kidding..._

Sasuke had expected to be as far away from the headache and the intrigue of the village during this mission, but it seemed like it wasn't possible, what with the very source of the confusion and suspicion walking alongside him.

Now, even the unevolved simpleton they were escorting had turned into a mystery novel character. _Why my life is turning into one of those fuck-retarded Shinobi Detective novels Ita-nii loved so much, I'll never know. Goddamn Sherorocku and his shit._

"A large businessman, both in size and wealth, has decided to stop all my attempts at building the bridge that would free our little country from the chains binding it. His name is Gatou, and I'm afraid he has the resources to hire hordes of mercenaries, the most fearful of them being-"

"Oh, will you shut your fucking trap already?" Sasuke was in no mood to hear another fucking lament of yet another troubled soul. _Just get to the motherfucking point already. _His face quickly turned deathly pale as he noticed his brother giving him his famed death stare. _One more word, and I'll make you fervently wish you were dead._

He gulped audibly, clamping his jaws shut. Ita-_nii's _anger wasn't something to be taken lightly. "Continue," his brother turned to the old man, urging him to talk.

"The most fearful of the mercenaries is one in every _shinobi's _Bingo Book. The Demon from the Village of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza." even as he spoke that name, he shuddered, as if the killer's mention would somehow bring him to where they were.

"I believe I was called?"

* * *

For some fucked-up reason, the God of Sadism was having a field day with their team.

As if the mention of his name had summoned him, the very man arrived at the scene. There were two intruders, actually, a masked, spiky-haired dude and his effeminate sidekick. The masked man had on a perpetually contorted expression, like the orifice to his butt had been welded shut when he was born. Somehow, the tranny next to him didn't particularly add to his so-called menace either. S/he looked like someone who'd have had multiple sex change operations, given the extremely ambiguous appearance s/he was presenting.

Sasuke didn't have the patience to deal with this pantomine show shit. Stepping up to the fore, he willed his _Sharingan _to activate, and formed the seals for a _Katon;Ryuusenka._

_Naruto, you won't be able to outdraw me this fucking time. _

This time, though, it was Hinata who had taken the initiative to fuck over the Uchiha. She'd already launched a fierce offensive on the shemale, and as she spun, the silver necklace she was wearing suddenly flashed in the mid-afternoon sun. Sasuke started, allowing the sword dude to come up close and personal. It was only after Zabuza had come within an inch of Sasuke's neck that he realized just where he'd seen the necklace before. Ducking, he engulfed the assassin with a dragon's wrath full of flames, sending his charred body hurtling backwards.

It was quite a drain on his _chakra, _and Sasuke fell back, waiting for signs of life. _I think he's finished off, but bitches like him usually get away with these near-death scenes like hell. _

He noticed a sudden movement behind him. He craned his neck, stretching his eyes as far as he could. Out of the very corner of his vision, he glimpsed Naruto's face, as he came at him with _Zabuza'_s sword. In that moment, he saw it all; the raving madness that emanated out of the dull mask he usually wore. A psychotic smile played on his face, threatening to split his face in half. It continued to get unnaturally wide, until all of his extremely sharp fangs were exposed. _Huh? _Sasuke had never seen a more confusing and horrifying sight.

Taking a lightning fast step forward, Naruto was suddenly within arm's length. His smile widened further, and his eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets. The blonde swung with all his might, and the Uchiha could do nothing but stare limply into those maniacal eyes, match Naruto's depraved stare with his own laconic one.

"SASUKE-_KUN!"_ Hinata's voice rang out in the background.

_Hinata?_

_Hina?_

_H-h-h-Hina...mori!_

As he continued to merely see events unfold around him, a _kunai _appeared out of nowhere, sticking out of Naruto's forehead. His eyes rolled back into his head as blood came gushing out in fountain-like spurts from the wound. The swing lost all its momentum, barely grazing the side of Sasuke's neck before the _Jinchuuriki _let go of the hilt. Sasuke watched as it slid down his slumped right shoulder to the ground.

He continued to stare, eyes half-dead, as it fell slowly to the ground. The fountain of blood had stained his blue sweatshirt, but he didn't notice the warm wetness spreading on his shoulders and torso. In the glint of the sunlight, he saw a quick snapshot of someone standing behind him. In the dull reflection the blade provided, he saw the owner of the voice he'd been hearing so frequently the last few days, ever since his brother had used that crazy _genjutsu _on him. His blue green eyes held a gravity and sense of purpose that his just could never have. His messy hair was as white as fresh snow, matching the colour of his _haori._

_The war never ends, child. Like an immortal deity, it merely continues to exist, be it in one form or the other._

_For the assassin, or for the warrior, there is but one choice. They too, like the war, must persevere._

_Because what must be protected still exists. If not as what it was, but as what it could, and will, be._

_Rise, child. Shake off the shackles that you have bonded yourself with._

Through the reflection, those extremely introspective eyes continued to stare into his own.

_Rise, and meet your savior._

The sword fell to the ground with a loud clang.

_Blink._

* * *

As Sasuke opened his eyes, he met Naruto's gaze, looking at him from quite the distance away. There was absolutely no expression at all on the _Jinchuuirki's _face. Somehow, the sight of him didn't infuriate him this time. Instead, it filled him with a deep regret, the sort felt while gazing at someone beyond retribution.

The sword that lay at his feet was a reflection of how it had been a second ago, or rather, that one had been a reflection of this one. Turning back, he winced at the jab of pain that came from the cut on his neck. That had been real, at least.

Momochi Zabuza's burnt body lay there on the ground, a _kunai _stuck deep in his forehead.

"ZABUZA-_SAMA!" _he barely caught the tranny's scream amidst the raging torrent of thoughts inside his mind. He seemed to have forgotten something extremely important. Something he'd witnessed and remembered just moments ago. He struggled to recall what it was that had spurred his mind into action, but that single fact stayed tantalizingly out of his mind, torturing the poor, beleaguered Uchiha even more.

_What...the...fuck?_

Uchiha Itachi grabbed the hysterical teenage boy/girl before he went all animal on Sasuke. Grabbing him around his torso _(it was definitely a him now), _Itachi disarmed him with a casual flick of his wrist, forcing the dude to drop the needle he had been holding on to. Binding his wrists to the back of his head, he threw him down to the ground. The kid had a defiant look on his face. He still continued to gaze at Zabuza's corpse with frantic eyes, as if he hoped his stare could somehow will the ex-_Kirigakure Jonin _back to life.

He nodded towards Hinata and Naruto. The duo stepped up, each holding one of their prisoner's arms, as Itachi walked over to face him. But before the Uchiha could use his famed _genjutsu _on him, he noticed a sudden spur of movement behind his head.

_Crap. He can form seals with a single hand. _Even as he thought that, he had disappeared, leaving behind a geodesic-shaped array of mirror-like ice sheets. Itachi marveled at the expertise with which they were crafted; clearly, this child had discovered his _kekkei genkai _very early in his life, and had spent considerable time in mastering it. Before he knew it, those annoying needles were flying towards him and Sasuke. Dozens of them were aimed right at vital spots. Itachi was impressed. Flexing his fingers, he drew his own _kunai, _deflecting all of the small, fast pins away from himself, and into the mirrors.

One by one, they all cracked, and yet, the child was nowhere to be seen. Itachi suddenly remembered what his initial intention had been. Whirling around, he caught just a glimpse of his prisoner escaping with Zabuza's body, with Sasuke in tow. His brother held the sword on his shoulder as he gave chase, a determined look on his face. Itachi let them go, choosing instead to comfort Tazuna, who had curled up into a ball at the side of the path, howling meekly to not be killed.

"Get up, _ossan_," he tapped their protectee on the back. Tazuna spasmed at Itachi's touch, and unfurled like a tightly wound spring. The senile idiot's face was green with nausea and fear. _Like a pair of assassins this mediocre could possibly achieve anything...Pathetic. _Digging into his pocket, he took out his bingo book. It was something of a custom to keep these in as dishevelled a state as possible, but Itachi's copy looked brand new, and probably still had the smell of a newly printed edition. Such was the nature of the Uchiha _jonin; _everything had to be perfect, and in order. That implied that Sasuke's newfound rude manners would have to be disciplined out of him.

"Oh, _Kami-sama..._" Tazuna's face mopping had gotten even faster now, but sweat still poured down from his face onto the front of his upper garment. Hinata's face wrinkled with disgust. Naruto, however, remained characteristically impassive. With a flourish, Itachi bit his finger, drawing a line in his own blood over Momochi Zabuza's entry in the bingo book, running in a diagonal slash over the page. This activated a seal that would summon a copy of this page over to the Hokage's office, and place it on top of his files for review upon his return. Itachi always found that transporting things using _Kuchiyose _was a pretty nifty trick.

_There it goes; one less missing-nin to worry about. What an achievement. My eyes are brimming with tears of joy._

Itachi had always questioned the sense of 'honor' that the general populace, in their ignorance, to believe in. Killing missing-nin, winning over one's enemy with respect instead of deceit, striving to lead a virtuous life, these were all concepts that were true and existed only in the dreams of idealists, like the Fourth had been. Sarutobi Hiruzen knew all about the things a _shinobi _had to do, the sins he had to commit in order to even begin to bear the burden of duty and responsibility thrown upon him from a very young age. These days, with the graduation age for _Genin _and _Chuunin _at an all-time low, the farce was more than validated.

Mere children such as Hinata and Sasuke were taken along on such life-threatening missions, which they themselves, of their own free will, chose. This was where Itachi's radical sense of realism made him so contemptuous of the ordinary ninja's life. The only motivation that should drive an individual, in Itachi's opinion, was what prompted one to go over beyond one's physical and mental means to achieve it. The sense of inadequacy, the insecurity associated with being better than everyone else, and the pathetic need to do 'good' was what he found the most irksome.

And yet, everywhere he went, there it was again; the same _fucking _ideals, everywhere. Which was why his current _genin _team was refreshingly interesting, in a way. Naruto's unfathomable motives, Hinata's carnal desire and Sasuke's utter jealousy filled a hole in his mind he'd never expected to be filled. Itachi lifted his gaze from the snivelling wretch of an old man and met Naruto's searching stare.

Itachi nodded, and Naruto quickly changed his demeanor. "I think we must follow Sasuke," he said, intoning it with a touch of concern. Hinata turned to him, eyes shining with agreement.

"Who knows what that teenager is capable of? Come, Hinata, let's go. Itachi-_sensei _can handle Tazuna..._san," _the blonde added the honorific reluctantly after a contemptuous pause, sending another set of cold shivers down the geezer's spine. Yet again, the Uchiha prodigy merely observed with a knowing smirk on his face. He'd seen Sasuke's consternation upon noticing Hinata's necklace. What he couldn't figure out was why he suddenly gave up and allowed Zabuza to get that close to him in the first place.

_I think my little brother is unravelling from within. _His smirk widened into a wide grin, which scared Tazuna even more. Somehow, the old man had chosen the worst team to protect him from possible threats; the three guys were bigger dangers to his life than anyone else.

* * *

As the tranny raced through the forest, Sasuke gave chase doggedly, evading the many traps and explosive seals the dude kept dropping in his wake. He wasn't going to let him get away, not after that _genjutsu _or whatever had kept him out of action and allowed Naruto to steal what had been his kill.

As the treeline began to thin out again, his target dropped to ground level, suddenly skidding to a halt. Sasuke sensed his opportunity, and he dove in for a quick stab at the kid's carotid artery. _Kunai _already brandished in his hand, he swung wildly at the exposed skin, but was met with a jarring resistance as the kid used a blade of his own to parry the strike. As Sasuke jumped back into a more combat-based fighting stance, the weight of the sword he was carrying made him remember what a formidable weapon he had with him, one he could test out on the kid. Practicing a couple of swings with the weirdly shaped sword, he observed the tranny get more and more agitated after seeing the callousness with which the Uchiha was treating his late companion's blade. Sasuke's neck throbbed with a dull pain; the nick had not been as shallow as he'd thought.

_I need to take him down fast. Time is not on my side here._

He sensed the other two coming up from behind. He frowned, and his lips curled into an agitated snarl. This was his opponent. He really did not need Naruto's assistance on this one. He danced forward on the balls of his feet, executing complex swings and combos that would have taken anyone else months, nay, years to master. The tranny let go of the body, with an intent look on his face. His eyes seemed to be following the sword. Sasuke wasn't surprised; any trained fighter would have to notice the weapon that was about to maim them with sheer concentration.

Sasuke felt his confidence rise with every half-countered attack, every strike that was causing the kid to falter in front of him. Perhaps the amount of training he'd done to overcome the ghosts in his head was actually bearing fruit. He was faster, more intuitive, and his strength had increased exponentially as well. As the parrying raged on, both the _shinobi_ giving no more than glancing nicks and scrapes to each other, the Uchiha resisted the urge to smile. For he was enjoying this fierce combat. The warrior's blood that coursed through him thirsted for this, the euphoria of not knowing whether his next breath would be his last.

Hinata and Naruto had arrived, it seemed, and neither had come forward to help the thirteen-year-old. He was, in a way, thankful for that, but the arrogance seeping through every pore in his consciousness claimed it to be his right. He would tear this little tranny in half, and only then would he allow them to even help just a little. _Heh. Maybe help in carrying the corpses back to Ita-nii's feet. Oh, what a declaration of my independence it would be._

Fate, apparently, had a completely different scenario planned for him that day. The kid, with a visible effort of will, upped the ante even further. Slabs of ice surrounded the Uchiha from every direction, creating an igloo no one wanted to take shelter in. He had dropped off the body elsewhere; Naruto could take care of the corpse himself. Subtle pinpricks began popping up in Sasuke's pain registers as his opponent launched into an attack that made his body speed up to an impossible degree.

_Either that, or he's merely using his reflections to deceive... Ah, fuck me. That hurt._

A long pin had lodged itself into Sasuke's right calf. Superficially, it didn't look like more than an acupuncture treatment, but he'd managed to skewer a tendon. That brought in waves of pain, but the Uchiha was used to that and more. Smirking casually, he plucked the pin out and flicked it with a sudden movement of his wrist. The boy had tried too hard to mask his behavioral characteristics so that any tendencies to move in a certain way would not affect his opponent's time taken to read them. He was good.

But, to be fair, he did have home court advantage. This was his environment, and the Uchiha was feeling the effects of the slow, anaconda-like tightening of the vice around his neck. The ice had reduced the temperature inside even further. It was taking a toll on his every movement, and his reactions to the skillfully thrown pins was growing a little haphazard. With a crushing feeling emanating from inside his chest, he realized that he couldn't really do anything unless he broke through the ice. For some reason, the simple act of breaking through one pitiful block of ice seemed rather abhorrent. It was the white-haired dude's doing, Sasuke was sure.

A pin barely missed his eye, lodging itself in his cheek. Sasuke cringed, and took a step back. He couldn't risk his _Sharingan _for an opponent as useless as the tranny. Forming the seals for a _Katon _was near impossible. He couldn't keep still enough, lest a barrage of those deadly pins turn him into a pincushion. He decided to test out the sword's ability. Gripping the hilt with the balance of an expert, he searched for structural weaknesses in the _chakra _holding the ice prison together. _There. Found it. _Sprinting ahead, he launched into the air, and swung down hard.

What he hadn't expected was the ice breaking a second before his sword even touched it. He saw a flash of deep blue _chakra, _and, as the whole structure crumbled in front of him, Hinata's foot. She had broken through the same spot Sasuke had noticed, albeit without a sharp implement. The _Byakugan, _coupled with the _Hakke Rokujuyonshu,_was a formidable tool. Although, applying the same _chakra _principles intended for hand and arm-based combat to the feet was an application no Hyuuga had ever implemented.

_People may suck Neji's thing for being the so-called genius Hyuuga, but damn, Hinata's got a fuck-load of talent too. Not bad._

Stumbling awkwardly, he pinwheeled his arms, trying not to get Hinata's leg chopped off by his swing. He exited the collapsing ice in a flurry, landing on the heiress, taking them both down to the ground. The sword clanged on the ground, and Sasuke braced for impact. He felt strong arms grab him just before he was expecting to hit the grass, and jerked his eyes open.

Naruto was holding him by the scruff of the neck. He was also cradling Hinata's body with his other arm, an expression of earnest concern on his face as he met her gaze. Hinata took a whole second to grasp the situation, before turning crimson faster than the speed of light. She had to be given credit, though. She didn't stutter a single syllable when she thanked him a second later. Naruto nodded, and placed her on the grass gently.

Turning to the Uchiha, his eyes suddenly glazed over, and lost all emotion. A very condescending smirk slowly appeared over his ugly face. Sasuke felt his anger rise up like a bubbling volcano, but it quietly began dying out when he saw the depth of the contempt and disgust Naruto had directed towards him through that gaze. He wasn't merely apathetic and sarcastic.

Naruto, too, _hated _him.

That honest emotion that his nemesis had portrayed set him free, in a way. Free from the constant feeling of inferiority, the constant fear that the _Jinchuuriki _didn't even consider him worth it, free from the binds his own mind had placed on his own ability. Now, he could truly...

_NO._

The white-haired dude's voice erupted loudly in his head, the echo ringing in his ears. It was said with an insistent urgency, and a sense of haste. Like he had to stop whatever he was doing, or die because of it. Sasuke was confused. What it implied was that he had to continue feeling stressed, continue to walk down the self-destructive path he had been set on the last few weeks. The dude in his head wanted it, and wanted it badly. _Why should I be a martyr to his cause? And why have I already accepted his denial? These contradictions are going to drive me stark crazy._

"Sasuke-_kun._"

The mention of his name brought him back to reality.

"I think this moment you think we're having has lasted way too long now. Mind if I let you go now?" Before he could protest the gay reference, Naruto had already dumped him onto the hard ground like a pile of horse shit. Getting up hastily, the Uchiha forgot his earlier epiphany.

"I'll carve you a third nostril, you egotistical fuck-wit. I'll..." glancing at Hinata's face, he calmed himself. This sequence of events was repeating way too often now. The tranny had escaped, it seemed. Sasuke had no clue how exactly the teen had managed a getaway with both Zabuza's corpse and the sword. He also had his suspicions about the blonde's part in the entire debacle. For now, those had to wait. He still got enraged every time Naruto pulled an absolute about-face like that, flitting from hate to apathy to condescension in a split second.

He had to get used to it. Denial and understanding were merely far-fetched dreams unless he got over his own ego and admitted defeat to his anger.

He hated Naruto. End of story.

It was time to move on to something less boring.

* * *

_The warrior trudges on._

_Through fire and ice, and blistering winds, he continues to walk the path that he deems as his. Through tragedy and sorrow, he carries his burdens with nary a frown to show for it. He has accepted his destiny as the end result of his own actions, both meritorious and disgraceful. Even in the clutches of death, he stays calm, choosing the chance for one last attack over escaping safely. Honor-bound to their word, the warrior loathes and condemns anyone who flouts the sacred rules he has chosen to adopt._

_The warrior is a fool, destined to die for his honor, ending up respected to the high heavens. But what good is that adulation? What, I ask, is the point of smothering the flame of one's existence for some mythical construct society expects you to uphold?_

_Enter the assassin._

_Silent as the night, his character resembles the pitch black far too closely._

_Merciless. Cunning. Using his intelligence to manipulate, deceive and betray anyone to achieve the outcome he desires, he stands on top of the pile, smirking at the folly of the world. Often using methods that would disgust their fellow humans, these creatures thrive on mistrust and agony. Sadism comes to them as naturally as breathing; their victims usually do not even have time to scream out before they have their lives taken from them, mostly in an instant. Their crass disregard for the sanctity of honor..._

Nara Shikamaru closed the book.

The bright rays of the midafternoon sun were causing a shimmer of heat to form out in the garden, giving everything an ethereal, transient character. The crickets were chirping very loudly, and it had gotten rather distracting. The thirteen-year old was in no mood for a distraction. He looked out into the veranda. The servants had come and gone, cleaning every last trace of blood from the path where his father had gotten murdered. His eyes, normally sleepy and apathetic to his surroundings, were clear and focused.

Keeping the tome aside, he picked up the _kunai _lying near his thigh and began to flip it in his hand. Throwing it up, he added a random number of rotations on it, spinning it thrice, once, twice, five times, before it returned to his outstretched palm to be thrown again. Now was definitely not the time to be dawdling around.

Yamanaka Ino sat next to him, dressed demurely for a change. The blonde knew the Nara well enough; their families had been team members since the _Shodai's _time, developing those gay combo attacks that they were so eager to watch their offspring perform. None of the three in this generation's InoShikaCho believed in them, of course. They wanted to change things; create some new skills and _jutsus _that would make them powerful individually as well. However, all training for that under Asuma-_sensei's _care had been left abandoned for the last two days.

Ino looked at her friend with concern evident in her eyes. Shikamaru's inevitable change in character after his father's untimely death was too drastic for the Yamanaka to fathom. He hadn't spoken a word since the funeral, and even then he'd only spoken to deliver his respects to the great man. There was a hardness to his features that had crept up out of nowhere; his eyes seemed more deep-set and gaunt than before.

The already too-old-for-his-age Nara had aged twenty years in the span of two days.

With a sudden flick of his hand, Shikamaru threw the blade towards the lawn, the black metal shimmering along with every object in its vicinity. Ino was surprised. The _kunai _was heading off target. Lazy and useless he may be, he'd never gotten anything less than perfect on most of his tests, a testament to his genius. Theory and practice - he had it all down pat. _He has to have missed on purpose, _Ino guessed. Very little of what the Nara did was without reason and forethought.

Like she'd predicted, it _was_ on purpose. With a practiced motion, he formed the seals for the Shadow _jutsu _his clan was renowned for. Sending the shadow at a speed Ino'd never seen before, it snaked through the multitude of shadows the waving grass had made on the ground, and caught up with the whizzing blade's black shadow. Suddenly, it left the ground, following the path where the light would be blocked by the blade, until it reached the _kunai's _side. Ino noticed the sudden little nudge that the black tendril gave the weapon in mid-air, changing its course ever so subtly.

_THUNK._

It landed in the exact center of the target on the far end of the garden, over fifty feet away. Ino felt relief flooding through her mind, as she relaxed for the first time that afternoon. Shikamaru had used the frustration and shock of his father's demise to his advantage, focusing on his training instead.

_He'll make an even better protector of the village than his father ever was, _she mused.

The Nara, on the other hand, had no such thoughts on his mind. His generally distracted brain had found a motive to work on, howsoever macabre it may be. He had to find out who'd killed his father. And make that cowardly bastard choke on his own blood and die due to a _kunai _shoved down his esophagus. And another in his forehead, in the same place his father had gotten stabbed.

_Just. You. Wait. _

Another _kunai _was in his hand, rotating with every emphatic thought. What Ino had very conveniently forgotten to notice was the dark embers smoldering in his eyes. This was not time for rejoicing, nor was it for reconstruction or moving on positively.

This was a time for revenge.

_You'd better be enjoying your damn worthless life right now._

_For I shall be ending it soon._

He threw the _kunai _so hard that it threatened to split the wooden trunk target into two.

_Very soon._

* * *

**YES.**

**Shikamaru. Kinda obvious after his father was killed.**

**But he will play a larger role in the story as it progresses, _when _it progresses.**

**Sasuke~Hitsugaya. Feels like the perfect parallel given the context of the story.**

**I think a few scenes with Itachi pulling some more mindfucks will be extremely repetitive and boring, so I shall shift to something different in the next chapter.**

**Cue Zabuza. And Haku. The ol' tranny and his constipated master will be back, I promise.**

**Cheers.**


	12. Escalation

**Greetings.**_**  
**_

**This chapter will be ending things.**

** I'll wrap up every plotline, kill off every villain, and make the hero and the heroine get together and have tons of steamy scenes.**

**LOL.**

**Fuck that cliche crap.**

**There's still a ton of Aizen-level mindfucking left. ****Not that much is happening in this chapter; I promised to lay off that for a while, and move the storylines ahead for a few other characters.**

**Read.**

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: THE AUTHOR DOES NOT OWN NARUTO OR BLEACH. NOTHING CAN EXCUSE THE CHIMERA SHIT KUBO'S PULLING.**

* * *

_A pale beam of moonlight filtered in through the split in the curtains._

_Uzumaki Naruto sat there, in a world of his own._

_The small lamp flickered, making the multiple shadows dance chaotically across the sparsely decorated walls of the room._

_There was a hesitant knock on the door._

_Painting the last strokes of his letter onto the yellowish-white manuscript, he allowed himself a small smile._

_No one but his dear lieutenant would dare disturb him during this hour._

_"Come in."_

* * *

_**'Seek not beauty in battle. Seek not beauty in death. Consider not your own life. If you wish to protect that which must be protected, then strike while your opponent's back is turned.'**_

_**-Aizen Sousuke**_

* * *

"You let him get away?"

Uchiha Itachi's jet-black eyes drilled holes into the three _Genins' _skulls. Tazuna-_san _stood next to him, mopping away. He didn't seem particularly affected by the news. Perhaps it was because he was scared shitless already; there was nowhere lower to go down that hole. To his surprise, none of his three _Genin _seemed abashed in the slightest. Naruto had on his expressionless visage that radiated a lack of concern. Hinata still seemed like she was going to have a stroke right there and then. As for Sasuke, well, he seemed to have regressed towards the mean, as far as his appearance went.

The _Jonin _smiled.

"Never mind."

Ignoring Tazuna's bland protests at his escorts' attitude, he turned and started to walk towards the massive bridge looming in the distance. Time was a luxury that they absolutely did not have. Events in the village were just beginning to spiral out of control, and the Uchiha legend wanted to be there as and when it all unraveled.

The rest of their rather eventful journey took very little time. They had almost reached the little hamlet Tazuna called home when Zabuza had decided to grace them with his presence and quick exit. As cameos went, that was extremely short and useless. Itachi suspected that that was not the last they'd seen of the Mist's fearsome assassin. He had a tendency to avoid such brushes with death; his entry into every Village's Bingo book wasn't because he stupidly charged in without a backup plan. Itachi was certain that the dude would try at least one more attempt on Tazuna's life.

Gatou _had _to have other thugs. That too was possible.

The party continued on in silence. Tazuna led the way after they'd crossed the village gate, regaining his composure with every step. He was in familiar waters, and he truly believed that nothing could happen to him here. Hinata seemed a little off-colour, but that could be because of anything Naruto had done. The poor heiress really needed to exit this phase of undying affection and move on with her life. Naruto treating her like an errant fly was doing nothing to help her consternation.

Itachi planned to talk to the _Jinchuuriki _about her anyway. Sure, she was currently on their side, what with the wool she'd pulled over Sasuke's eyes, but her strong sense of honor and justice was bound to overcome her feelings eventually, the Uchiha reasoned. And then, she would eventually have to be eliminated, in due course. Itachi often wondered why Naruto had still kept her alive.

_Can't argue that her misguided affection isn't humorous, but still. The bigger picture must be thought of._

Tazuna approached a hut just a little off the main street. It appeared well-built and sturdy, if a little worse for wear. He knocked loudly on the door. A few seconds later, a female voice said, "It's open!" with the cheeriness of a wilted flower.

The five of them entered.

* * *

The room was absolutely, suffocatingly silent.

Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped his fingers on his wooden desk as he waited for an answer to his question. A minute passed. The fan on the ceiling continued to rotate slowly, refusing to drive away the heat. Two minutes. The teenager remained quiet, choosing to stare defiantly into the _Sandaime's _eyes. Hatake Kakashi, leaning on the wall on the far side of the room, seemed to be daydreaming about something, his mind mired in thought.

Three minutes.

_SAY SOMETHING, STUBBORN CHILD! _

Inside, the Hokage was seething with rage. Rage at his own helplessness, his inability to keep things from flying out of hand at the smallest provocation. Nara Shikaku's death was his fault, but he was not going to allow another teenager to go down _that _path. Shikamaru had to be saved from himself; the consequences of the opposite happening were too catastrophic. The question was very simple. It was directed to heal, to help the troubled genius open up and reveal his true thoughts to another human being.

Although how the old man had been treated by his subordinates recently was far from human. The most loyal members of his ANBU had started acquiring questioning glances in their nods of obedience, his haters and those of the Root solely contained contempt. The elders were beginning to lose faith in his pacifism, calling it weak and unworthy according to his previous standards. What he'd tried and failed to explain to them and Danzo was the sheer delicacy of the situation as it was. He could not claim that the sequence of events that had just occurred was not his fault. He was responsible for the safety and happiness of the village, more so of the ones who protected it with their lives.

It was a failure that could not be attributed to his age and inefficiency. The head of village security, the main genius behind their extensive surveillance and espionage network, Nara Shikaku, had died. And as if that wasn't enough, the investigation into his death had revealed absolutely nothing. No evidence had come to light, no leads had been found, and nobody seemed to know anything about the extremely strong and stealthy assassin who'd randomly come in and stabbed the Nara in the forehead.

The only thing that they had found, or rather happened to glimpse, was something that would shake the entire stability of Konohagakure if it came to light. The one hapless guard who'd been incapacitated by a _Genjutsu _had revealed later that he had seen one of the intruders a few days after the Nara had died. His memory was hazy and fragmented, but the one thing he remembered was a pool of crimson, and three dark _tomoe_.

_Sharingan._

Oh, how Danzo had chuckled with pride at that news. He'd gotten his motive, and the evidence to prove it. His case, made to the elders and the feudal lord, was extremely well-worded and compelling, and had those old, senile fools hanging on to his every word, leaning forward in their seats and staring into his manipulative eyes. Along with his other detestable qualities, Danzo was a skilled negotiator. He used every possible permutation of the words _'for the good of Konoha'_ and every synonymous phrase he could, bringing the elders over to his side with carefully chosen flattery and conniving determination.

Hiruzen had had nothing to offer in that sequence of events, no arguments to counter Danzo's stunning admission that the Uchiha, in fact, were a clan that deserved to be cleansed. Eradicated. Massacred. As he saw the fools who truly held power in the village succumb to Danzo's theatrics, he began wishing for something to save them from this mess.

And in the meantime, the one hope the _Sandaime _had was gallivanting on some random C-Rank mission with his team, and the one other prodigy he'd thought would jump at the opportunity to do good for the village his father had died to protect was staring back at him from three feet away, looking like a murderer on death row being asked for his final wish. Nara Shikamaru had said nothing. Even his expression hadn't changed in the last ten minutes.

The Hokage felt the silence rise to a head, and realized that if no one said anything for a minute longer, he would go crazy.

"I realize the magnitude of the decision that I have placed upon your shoulders," he said through gritted teeth. "I think you should take a few days to come to terms with it, and reach a conclusion as to what you want to do."

_Nothing._

Hiruzen felt bile rise up his throat.

"Dismissed," he said in a soft voice.

Without so much as a nod of acknowledgement, Shikamaru turned and left, with Kakashi in tow. The _Jonin _had been asked to follow the Nara, for obvious reasons. Not that the gray-haired loser was doing a very good job of it, but still. Precautions had to be taken.

The moment the door closed behind them, the _Sandaime grabbed_ the nearest container he could find and retched his guts out into it. The stress had begun to get to him. Perhaps that was Danzo's plan. Say and do nothing until Hiruzen himself cracked under the pressure. And right now, it seemed to be working perfectly. In his consternation, Hiruzen had not noticed the tall, thin man standing behind the Nara the entire time, insisting that he remain silent.

He rubbed his temples, trying to stop the beginning of a headache from turning into a full-blown migraine.

_This is not going to end well._

* * *

The first thing Hinata noticed in the house was the sheer lack of prosperity.

Konoha was a well-to-do village, its economy bolstered by the constant inflow of missions that its _shinobi _superiority called for. Also, she was the heiress to the mighty Hyuuga clan, who could paint the entire town with gold leaf without even so much as a small dent in their wealth. On the other hand, the broken window panes, the dissheveled state of the home told her that the family, and the village as whole, had not seen any real money flow in for a long time.

The woman who greeted them seemed to be Tazuna's daughter. Despite her face having prematurely wrinkled, she had a motherly grace about her. She looked at each one of them with concern in her eyes, and then moved forward to shake Itachi's hand.

"I presume my father will be in your care for the next few days?" her grip seemed a little weak. Perhaps it was the starvation, Hinata reasoned.

Itachi met her searching stare, instilling a sense of calm into her. Pressing his hands on hers, he spoke in a reassuring voice.

"Do not worry. I assure you that your father's safety will not be compromised in the slightest." Tazuna shifted guiltily, and swallowed hard. "I am Uchiha Itachi, and this is my team of _Genin, _who are, by all means, extremely qualified to handle a task of such nature as this."

The lady smiled, probably for the first time in weeks. Hinata felt a sort of pity for their state, but there was nothing that could be done to help them save for protecting Tazuna until the bridge was completed. Only then could they escape the suffocating clutches of the businessman holding a monopoly over the sea routes from their island to the mainland.

"My name is Tsunami," the lady continued, gesturing for them to come in and have a seat. "You children must be tired. Let me whip something up for all of us, shall I?" Sasuke was about to start a narcissistic, expletive-filled rant about how he wasn't a child, but was shut up by his brother's stern gaze. Naruto stifled a chuckle, which seemed to inflame the Uchiha even more. He merely plopped into a chair, cheeks blazing red with rage. Tsunami-_san _left for the kitchen.

"I am sure my grandson will be thrilled to meet you," Tazuna spoke up suddenly, as if he'd just remembered. Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Hinata wished, for the thousandth time, that he would improve his sullen, rude nature. _I don't know what anger plagues you so, Sasuke-kun, but it does not justify acting like this._

"Inari!" he called out. "Come downstairs for a second."

There was a brief pause, before a child replied "I don't want to!" in a sulky, nasal tone. Shaking his head, Tazuna turned around, mopping towel already in his hands and on his face.

"I apologise for his terribly rude behaviour, but he's not used to being around company. Or even liking other people, for that matter."

Itachi waved away the apology with a dismissive flick of his hand. They had come there to protect, not freaking bond with the villagers. Seeing the callous apathy made the Hyuuga heiress a little sad. After all, it was a little kid. How much empathy did handling one kid need?

Tsunami-_san _came in again, holding a tray of glasses in her hands. Naruto rose to help her out, but his fingers tipped the tray over by accident, spilling the red watermelon juice all over the carpet. Hinata saw her despair; watermelons were expensive, even in Konoha. She also saw Naruto look at her with mock concern in his eyes, apologizing profusely like he was supposed to. She noticed Sasuke sneering out of sheer pettiness, and Itachi merely not giving a damn.

There were times when the Hyuuga hated her team. This was definitely one of them.

"TAZUNA!"

Another old man was calling their protectee from outside the house. He quickly looked outside the window, and replied with an "In a moment!", before turning to the _shinobi. _

"The volunteer workers are here. It's time to go finish the bridge."

Itachi nodded. Naruto waited a second longer, eyes travelling from the stained carpet to Tsunami-_san's _face. When she understood the implication, she immediately began politely requesting them to go, that she would handle the mess. The blonde took a second, and then looked directly at Hinata. Suddenly, she felt like the deepest recesses of her mind were open to him, like there was nothing she could hide from that gaze. He shrugged and smiled, walking behind the Uchiha _Jonin _through the open front door.

Hinata clutched the silver necklace she wore, feeling the cold metal slide over her fingers.

_And so it begins._

* * *

The work seemed to be moving at a glacial pace.

Sasuke stifled yet another yawn. Their vigil had gone from boring to tedious to plain annoying in the last five hours. There they were, with the enemy's main asset neutralized, standing guard pointlessly while a bunch of people dug up stuff and placed more stuff in the holes they made. Over on the other sides of the triangle formation Ita-_nii _had devised, Hinata and Naruto seemed to be similarly disposed.

The blonde, however, was looking out over the ocean, over the unfinished bridge to the mainland, an unreadable expression on his face. _What exactly is he looking at? _Sasuke peered over to the green forest on the other side. There was nothing there. Annoyed at yet another attempt to mess with him, the Uchiha was about to leave his station and give the Uzumaki a piece of his mind, when he saw _it._

The green was slowly fading away. Or rather, something was covering it up.

_That doesn't feel right, _Sasuke thought, scratching his head. _This isn't the time or the weather for a fog as thick as that._

The gray cover spread quickly, faster with every passing second. As it began to cross over the ocean and onto the bridge, even the villagers began to notice. There was an uneasy murmuring among the group. Some hushed whispers about _Gatou _and _Demon Mist. _Sasuke saw his brother look intently at it too, as if he saw something within. After a full two seconds, he saw the _Sharingan _and the _Byakugan._

_Fuck._

Turning quickly, he willed his own _Dojutsu _into effect, searching the gray mist for signs of enemy _chakra. _He found two almost immediately, and their respective signatures nearly blew his mind away.

_Not. Possible._

The bodies of blue and white that he'd seen seemed to shimmer suddenly, and they were gone. Sasuke looked around in confusion, until he noticed them sneaking up on another red body.

"Naruto-_kun, _watch out!" Hinata's warning rang out just in time. Although he couldn't clearly see what was happening, Sasuke saw the _Jinchuuriki _defend himself superbly against the sneak attack, seemingly parrying the heavy blade's attack with a deft _kunai_ block. He sensed that the tranny was up to something. He knew what was coming.

_Man, he really is a one-trick pony, isn't he?_

The igloo that he had used against Itachi and Sasuke now surrounded Naruto, and Sasuke sensed the kid's _chakra _moving about with the ferocious speed that he couldn't track before. Before Sasuke had a moment to smile at his nemesis's peril, he saw the second body of _chakra _dive directly onto the Hyuuga.

He couldn't afford to just stand there and gloat. Hinata needed help. Sprinting towards the heiress, he took out a couple of _kunai. _Fire was useless in this scenario, what with the mist surrounding them. The constipated dud wasn't dead after all. Sasuke felt the thrill wash over him all over again. There was still scope to recover his target. Naruto hadn't stolen that from him.

Approaching at right angles to the skirmish, he threw one of his blades right at the sword, stopping it from chopping off Hinata's left shoulder. Stepping up to the fray, he launched into a series of vicious swings that had his opponent backpedalling for his life. Hinata took a step forward to join in the offensive, but Sasuke quickly cut off her angles. This was his prey for the taking. He glimpsed at his _nii-chan _out of the corner of his eye. There was a little glint of approval he could sense in the dull glow of his _Sharingan. _

_Just you wait, Ita-nii. __I'll hogtie this mofo and place him in front of you._

Zabuza also was a _Jonin, _and a long-time missing-_nin,_ for a reason. Taking a firm retreat, he casually ducked under Sasuke's swings and thrust the blade ferociously toward the teen's unguarded torso. The Uchiha took a step back, exhaling the _Katon __jutsu _that he had been preparing, flattening his stomach to avoid the blade from skewering him. Switching seals in a second, he used the mist around him and was ready with a _Suiton;Suiryuudan _in a split second. As his opponent finished the follow-through of the swing, he aimed it at the point where he had placed his weight, and fired hard, pushing him off balance.

As Zabuza keeled over, Sasuke raised both his arms, _kunai _brandished in both hands. As he lunged ahead to stab him in the heart, he suddenly felt as if he hit a rock. His vision blurred, and he felt a large weight constricting his entire body. Frantically, he looked around to see the prison he had been shut into. It was almost pure water, with a few veins of pulsing blue _chakra _keeping its shape and pressure intact. He tried desperately to take a breath, but his lungs seemed stuck, unable to move anywhere but away from the massive weight bearing down on them.

He knew better than to do that, though. His brother had taught him well at least in that regard; bringing a boa constrictor home from the forest just to teach him how to breathe. As the muscles in its body slowly crushed the life out of him, he had stared into his brother's eyes and held his breath, confident that his _nii-chan _would save him once the time called for it. And he had come to the rescue then, slicing the snake's grip open with a kitchen knife before his beloved younger brother choked to death.

This time though, it felt extremely different. Through the unyielding wall of water surrounding him, and through the fog beyond that too, he glimpsed two small, crimson circles looking at him. Judging. Withering. Calculating. His brother had abandoned him to die. Or so it seemed, at least. Sasuke held his breath; there was literally nothing else for him to do. He saw an indistinct shape fighting off his captor. Presuming it was Hinata, he forced his eyes closed. It was easier to keep calm and concentrate that way.

_Come on, Hyuuga. _He willed her on.

_It's time to end this shit._

* * *

The said Hyuuga had just launched into a vicious series of attacks, a few of them learnt from her father, passed down as they were from the lineage of the Hyuuga's main family. The others were completely hers, developed through an intention to use her entire body to attack instead of only her hands. Applying the dancing maneuvers she had seen her brother's teammate, the only-_taijutsu _user, Lee perform with such alacrity, she channeled _chakra _to her feet as well, extending the reach, speed and versatility of the _Hakke Rokujuyonshu._

She hadn't gotten to naming her technique yet, but ideas had started springing into her head ever since she went on that..._expedition... _with Sasuke-_kun. _She couldn't place a finger on it; the source of her ideas still remained frustratingly hidden, but the names were good. There was one she really liked, a name that seemed to strike a strange chord in her.

_Tobiume Hyakunijuu Hachi._

Literally, it stood for _hundred and twenty eight flying plum trees._ She had no idea why this name clicked; it just did. Maybe because she always thought her eyes resembled plums rather than the shade of lavender everyone else seemed to compare it to. Maybe it was because of her _chakra _turning exactly the same color when she used the technique. Or maybe this was just a coincidence.

_It doesn't matter._

Swatting away the sword swings with ease, the heiress advanced, whirling like a typhoon in spate. The faster she ended this, the quicker she could go and save Naruto-_kun. _The masked man was way stronger than she was, as far as sheer strength and experience were concerned. She needed to get the advantage some other way. Her _Byakugan _was helping, but she could feel the drain on her _chakra_ from both the techniques, and she knew that she couldn't last for more than five minutes this way.

Sliding out a _kunai _from her belt, she threw it hard, intentionally missing her opponent. It sped over a little too far to the right, and Zabuza, being a relatively rationally-thinking person, ducked left. Right into Hinata's rising foot. As she felt her heel crash into his skull, Hinata felt a massive urge to vomit. Such violence on her first mission? She hadn't wounded a single person in all her years of training. Even with _kunai _drills, or with the _Rokujuyonshu, _she had only acted in self-defense, using her opponent's momentum against him to get the throw or the pin or whatever winning condition was set by her instructors.

But now, the only winning condition was death. She had to do this. Clutching her blade with a newfound determination, she advanced, catching the reeling _missing-nin _right off guard. Despite that, he was able to defend himself, using his hand as a sacrifice to save his head from being stabbed. Reaching over, he swung awkwardly, catching the Hyuuga's midriff with the edge at the last moment.

She stepped back, wincing with the pain. Looking down, she saw the gash. It wasn't too deep. Grimacing, she gave the ice structure another glance. There was a small hole on one side, widening by the moment. Naruto-_kun _must be getting...

_Out._

The assassin's blade passed clean through her wrist.

Dazed, she ducked under his next swing, one that would have decapitated her. She kept dodging on autopilot while her conscious thoughts reeled at the implications of what had happened. Her hand had been cut off. She could see it right there, lying on the unfinished bridge, a pool of blood already forming around the severed part. She laconically blocked another attempt at her life, and raised her left arm to her eyes.

It was really gone. Her brain could still feel it twitching, trying desperately to clutch the silver pendant hung around her neck. She could feel her heart pumping, and her blood spurting out of the cut with every single contraction of the muscle. She was going to die of shock before she died of blood loss. Moving sluggishly, she managed to evade yet another swing. Zabuza's expression was contorted, but that gave nothing away. His face was always like that.

_Always like that..._

_Why must you always be like that, Naruto-kun?_

She felt her legs give way as she finally succumbed to the blood loss. Zabuza had taken careful aim this time. He would definitely not miss-

_THUNK._

The _Kirigakure __jonin _had three _kunai _piercing his vital organs, as Uchiha Itachi suddenly stood in her diminishing field of vision, right in between her and her opponent. His eyes seemed dull and defeated; Itachi must have used his famous _genjutsu _on him. Turning her head slowly, as if underwater, she craned her neck to try and get a glimpse of the one she loved, one she had gone so far to protect.

He too, had taken care of his target. Sitting on his haunches next to his fallen opponent, he seemed to be engaged in a ritual of some sort. His silhouette seemed extremely wolf-like as he raised the blade he was holding above his face, turning his nose upwards to face the black metal. He expectantly waited; the moment had to be savored. The heiress noticed the crimson drop fall from the point of the pyramidal weapon onto his outstretched tongue.

Her last conscious thought was one of sheer bewilderment and confusion.

_What on Earth are you doing, Naruto-kun?_

_Just what...was...that...?_

_Blackness._

* * *

Licking his lips, the blonde replaced the _kunai _where he had found it, embedded deep inside the kid's ribcage. Taking the troubled child out had become easy once he had struck at one of the innumerable weaknesses he had. The easiest one of all, was to manipulate his fragile sense of self-worth by logically and systematically destroying his reason to exist.

Once the _Jinchuuriki _had figured out why the pre-teen was fighting, it was plain sailing after that. His entire dedication, his killing intent, and his life, was for only one thing. To be useful to his master. While dodging his ice-picks, Naruto had talked and talked, arguing calmly with an increasingly panicky Haku about his use to the _Kirigakure __Jonin, _and managed to drive home the fact that had he not existed in the first place, the Momochi's life would have been no different. Rather, it would have been better.

Naruto enjoyed watching the fire drain out of his innocent eyes, seeing first the loss in speed, then in the accuracy of his attacks. He observed with glee as the effeminate orphan eventually came to his knees, his face sweating, his eyes darting frantically from one insignificant spot to another as he tried to deny it, to reason it out, to remove the demons the blonde had put in his head.

But nothing, in his opinion, came even close to the climax of his consternation. He merely watched without a trace of expression on his face as his opponent spreadeagled himself on the wall of the igloo and softly requested to be put out of his misery. It was an admission of defeat so extreme that even he couldn't suppress a chuckle.

He hadn't obliged. Not immediately. Naruto still hadn't had his fill. The blonde merely stood and watched as his requests gradually got louder. He smiled sadistically as Haku began begging to be killed. Soon, the whispers had turned into frantic screams, desperate demands for the _Jinchuuriki _to stop looking with that expressionless gaze and end things already.

_"WHY WON'T YOU DO IT?"_

_"WHY? WHY?"_

_"WHY-"_

It was at the peak of his despair when he finally chose to drive the black blade clean through his metaphorically bleeding heart. It exited from his rear, cracking and breaking the cold prison he'd spent years perfecting. The momentum of the thrust pushed the dead body out in a shower of broken ice. Naruto let go of the blade, savoring the feeling of the colder, denser air rush out of the now-broken enclosure. He took a step out, right into the scene where he saw Hinata-_chan _get her hand cut off. He saw her go into post-traumatic shock almost immediately, turning to the one source of comfort she thought was there for her.

Ignoring her desperate attempt at a human connection, the blonde _Jinchuuriki _indulged in his usual ritual. As the tantalizing drop fell onto his tongue, matching Hinata's fall towards the ground, he merely looked at the mist clearing out from around them, watched Sasuke escape his watery prison and drop to his knees, hacking and coughing, and allowed himself one smile.

One sublime, satisfied smile.

* * *

**Screw the humor. **

**It'll return sporadically with the entries and exits of Kakashi, but the course of this fanfic has been decided. **

**Expect more such dark themes in the chapters to come.**

**To my recurring readers, a heartfelt thank-you for sticking around for so long.**

**Keep reading, and keep reviewing, yeah?**

**Cheers.**

_**P.S. Sherorocku for the win. Just a little something to link ARTH and DU, my other story. Peace.**_


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